You're a witch, Miss Granger
One Shot
On the 19th of September 1979, Mr and Mrs Granger welcomed their first child into the world. Their beautiful daughter, Hermione Jean Granger. The couple didn't think it was possible to feel so much love for one small person, but they loved their little Hermione to the stars and back. So much so that they had decided not to have anymore children, feeling more than content with their little family. Hermione seemed quite the ordinary little girl up until one bright summer's day at the age of four. It was the middle of July, and the family had decided to go to the park for the day, this was also the very same day that Mr and Mrs Granger would discover that their daughter was more special than they could have ever imagined. Hermione sat on the edge of an empty roundabout, enjoying an ice cream that her parents had bought for her, when all of a sudden, another girl stomped towards her. She had a bigger build than Hermione, and was most likely a year older than her. She had long, greasy orange hair and was wearing a denim dungarees that was covered from head to toe in dirt. The girl snatched Hermione's ice cream out of her hand and began to lick it.
"Excuse me-", Hermione began shyly, "my mummy and daddy bought that for me". The girl looked Hermione right in the eye. Her eyes were a gloomy green colour and young Hermione could feel herself becoming more nervous by the second.
"Well you should get your mummy and daddy to buy you a new one cos this one's mine now!", the girl yelled at her as she cackled. Hermione could feel tears forming in her eyes as she watched the nasty girl eat her ice cream. "Awwwwww. Are you going to cry, little baby?", the girl mocked. Mr and Mrs Granger had noticed the commotion and had begun to make their way towards the roundabout before something utterly unexplainable happened. The ice cream that sat in the cone suddenly began to float in midair, right in front of the girls face. She watched it with scared eyes as the ice cream continued to float higher until coming to a stop directly above her head. A moment later, the dollop of ice cream fell with a splat right on top of the girls head. Looking as if she were about to cry herself, the girl ran out of the park as fast as her legs could carry her. Mr and Mrs Granger looked at their daughter, absolutely astonished by what they had just witnessed.
"Hermione, sweetheart, what happened?", Mr Granger asked, kneeling down beside her.
"She stole my ice cream, and then the ice cream started to fly!", Hermione told her father, looking as astonished as he did. As the years passed, more unexplainable things began to happen. Mr and Mrs Granger received regular calls from Hermione's school informing them that she had been involved in accidents with other children.
"Jessica has informed us that Hermione had cut her hair during a lesson", Hermione's headmistress told Mr and Mrs Granger as they were called into the school for at least the tenth time.
"I didn't! She took my textbook and it happened on its own! Honest! I didn't do anything", Hermione told her parents, becoming increasingly upset by the second when suddenly, a glass that sat on the headmistress's desk shattered unexpectedly. Although everyone in the room could blatantly see that Hermione was no where near the glass when it broke, the headmistress raised her eyebrow at Hermione's parents.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Fitch, but if Hermione says she didn't do it then her father and I believe her. We know what she is and what she isn't and what she is most definitely not is a liar", Mrs Granger told the headmistress before standing up from her seat and taking Hermione's hand, leaving the room closely followed by Mr Granger.
"Hermione, you need to tell us the truth if you did do it, sweetheart", Mr Granger spoke softly as he drove the car home.
"I didn't do it, dad! I swear, I didn't touch her", Hermione snapped at him.
"Okay, princess", he replied, keeping his soft tone.
"I don't know how it happens. When the girls at school are nasty to me, bad things happen to them and I don't know why but its not me!", she explained.
X
Hermione was now ten years old. She had learnt to distance herself from the other children as much as she could. Every play time, she would sit the the furthest corner of the playground and do what she loved to do more than anything; get completely lost in a book.
"What are you reading, Granger?", a girls voice rang in Hermione's ears as she continued to read, not retaliating to the girl. "Ooooo! Silent treatment, is it?", the girl giggled with her friends before taking Hermione's book and began to scan the cover. "Oliver Twist?", the group of girls cackled.
"Give me my book. Please", Hermione spoke sternly, careful not to raise her voice.
"Oh look girls! Smarty pants Granger has a voice after all!", the main girl continued to taunt Hermione.
"Please. I just want my book", Hermione asked again.
"Please I just want my book", one girl imitated her, badly.
"Oh please give me my book before I cry!", another girl joined in. Hermione's book began to be passed around the group of girls carelessly as they laughed viciously and continued to torment her. Hermione could feel anger and upset surging through her body before eventually she had had enough of their taunting.
"GIVE ME MY BOOK!", she roared. And as she did so, all of a sudden, a group of birds that were nestled in a nearby tree flew towards the group of girls at lightning speed. Dropping Hermione's book on the floor, the group of girls ran frantically away from the swarm of birds chasing them. Hermione picked her book up off of the floor as she continued to watch the girls run away. 'How does this keep happening?', she would ask herself quite often. The only time Hermione was truly happy was when she was on her own with a book in her lap. She wanted to love school, she adored learning, but the girls that constantly teased her and taunted her were just too much. Hermione slowly entered her home that afternoon and began to make her way upstairs with her book held closely to her chest.
"Hermione, sweetheart? Is that you?", her mother called. Hermione did not answer. Instead she continued the slow walk to her bedroom, keeping the tears that rimmed her eyes exactly where they were. Mrs Granger instantly knew that her daughter had had yet another terrible day at school and stopped cleaning the dishes to go and check on her. "Hermione?", she spoke softly, entering Hermione's bedroom. Hermione was sat on the corner of her bed with her book open in her lap as little tear stains began to appear on the pages in front of her. "What happened today, sweetheart?", Mrs Granger asked as she joined her daughter on the bed.
"Jessica took my book and wouldn't give it back.", Hermione sniffed, "I tried to keep calm, I really did- but she kept calling me 'Smarty pants Granger' and throwing my book around. Then some birds chased after her and her friends", she sighed as she finished her story. "Is there something wrong with me, mum?", Hermione asked as tears began to form in her eyes once again.
"No! No, of course not, sweetheart", Mrs Granger told her pulling her daughter into her side for a cuddle. "You're just special, Hermione. You always have been, petal. And your father and I wouldn't have you any other way, don't you ever forget that, alright?". Hermione nodded as she sniffed. "Good", Mrs Granger sighed sadly, kissing her daughter on the top of her head. Later that night, Hermione tossed and turned in her bed. Every night was the same, she would think about all the horrible things the girls at school would say to her, and all of the horrible things that happened to them in return. When Hermione first started school she wanted nothing more than to love it and to take in every lesson, everything she learnt and to extend her knowledge without any trouble. And although Hermione did very well in all of her lessons, she had a very bad record. Cutting people's hair, setting birds on them, smashing windows. But what made it worse was that she was absolutely sure she had been wrongly accused. Sometimes she would tell herself that it was just a mere coincidence that these things would happen whenever the girls at school upset her or made her mad, but then she would think it to be too coincidental. She had even read once about a force called karma, but she told herself it couldn't be that. She was at a loss. As the next year went on, the bullying had become worse, and the strange occurrences became worse along with it, so much so that Mr and Mrs Granger had decided that it would be best for Hermione to be taught at home instead. Hermione was absolutely heartbroken. She just wanted to enjoy school and be her normal self without any hassle. Now eleven, Hermione had given up on her dreams of enjoying school and learning and settled for being taught by her mother and father. One afternoon in the summer, as she and her father went through a maths lesson, Hermione noticed a silver tabby cat sitting outside on the window sill. The cat stared at her carefully, never looking away for even a second or blinking. Hermione found this strange. The neighborhood she lived in didn't really have too many cats, and none of them would sit on their window sill and watch her intently, and indeed none of them were silver.
"Dad?", Hermione spoke.
"Yes?", her father replied.
"Do you think that cats lost?", she asked pointing at the cat outside. Her father looked just as surprised as she did.
"I- er- I don't know, sweetheart", he said, returning to the textbook he had in front of him. Hermione continued to watch the strange cat as it suddenly began to scratch at the window.
"I think it wants to come in", she told her father.
"Hermione, we cant go letting stray tabby cats into the house. What if its someone's pet?", her father told her, no taking his eyes off of the textbook.
"Cant we just feed it and then let it go? The poor thing looks awfully hungry", she asked politely. Her father sighed before looking up at the cat in the window.
"Alright. Go and let it in then", he chuckled softly as Hermione jumped to her feet to let the cat in. As she expected, the cat strutted into the house and sat in front of Hermione, continuing to stare at her. Mr and Mrs Granger soon joined Hermione by the front door to admire the cat.
"Its a very strange looking cat, isn't it?", Mrs Granger spoke.
"She's probably old", said Mr Granger stroking the cat behind its ear. All of a sudden, with a small pop, the cat began to transform in to what could only be described as a human. Hermione stood back in horror along with her parents before long, a tall, thin old woman stood before them. She wore long emerald green robes that flowed down past her ankles and a pointed hat that cocked to one side. She also wore a square pair of glasses and a very prim expression. Clothes that Hermione had only ever seen children wear on Halloween.
"Good evening", she said politely. Hermione and her parents were too astonished to speak. The old woman simply shook her head and smiled softly at the three of them. "I'm sure this must be a bit of a shock for you, so here; read this first and I'll explain after", she spoke, handing Hermione an envelope. If was different to any envelope she had ever seen before. Her name and address was written on the front in green ink and on the back was a seal made of red wax. Hermione opened the envelope and took out the letter that was inside, beginning to read;
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
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 been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment.
Term one begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
Hermione read over the strange letter a few times before letting her parents have a look.
"I- I don't understand", she stuttered.
"You're a witch, Miss Granger", the old woman spoke softly.
"Excuse me?", said Mr Granger.
"As I said before, this must come as a bit of a shock, but I can assu-"
"What do you mean my daughter's a witch?", Mr Granger cut her off before she could finish. Instead of answering Mr Granger, the old woman looked directly at Hermione, smiling ever so slightly.
"A lot of unexplainable and unexpected things happen quite a lot when you're angry or upset. Am I correct?", she asked raising her eyebrow slightly. How did she know? Hermione couldn't believe it. Surely this was some sort of sick joke. There's no such thing as witches! But then again, she had just witnessed, what seemed to be, an ordinary cat transform into a fully grown human. Hermione simply nodded her head.
"Oh, now where are my manners? I am Professor McGonagall. I teach Transfiguration and am Deputy Headmistress at Hogwarts", she smiled.
"Transfiguration?", Hermione repeated. There was so many things she wanted to ask, but her astonishment was limiting her words. Professor McGonagall simply nodded politely. Hermione looked to her parents. They were completely lost for words. "Excuse me, do you mind if I talk with my parents for a moment?", Hermione asked Professor McGonagall politely.
"No, not at all", Professor McGonagall smiled. Hermione and her parents went into the living room, shutting the door slightly.
"I want to go", Hermione said suddenly. Her mother's eyes widened.
"What? Hermione-", Mrs Granger began before being interrupted by her daughter.
"It makes sense! Doesn't it? All this time I thought I was nothing but a freak- but I'm not. I'm-", she stopped to take a deep breath, "I'm a witch". Mr and Mrs Granger exchanged looks before looking back down at their daughter. Mr Granger sighed before bending down to her level.
"Is this is what you really want?", he asked. Hermione nodded happily.
"Maybe I can finally be myself", she smiled hopefully at her father. At her words, Mr Granger wrapped his arms around his daughter, holding her tightly against his chest.
"Alright. You can go", he told her. Hermione let go of her father to return to Professor McGonagall in the hallway.
"Everything alright?", she asked.
"Brilliant!", Hermione smiled.
"Excellent", Professor McGonagall smiled.
"Only-", Hermione stopped for a moment, looking over her letter, "Where am I going to get the 'necessary books and equipment' from?", she asked.
"Ah, yes. You can get those in Diagon Alley", said Professor McGonagall.
"And how do we get there, exactly?", Mrs Granger asked.
"Ah. I did think that would be an issue. I can escort you myself if you wish?", she asked. Hermione nodded eagerly.
"Can we go tomorrow?", she asked excitedly.
"Of course", Professor McGonagall smiled.
X
The next morning, Professor McGonagall arrived, as promised, at the Granger's house, ready to escort them to Diagon Alley. Arriving at Diagon Alley, Hermione couldn't believe her eyes. She was surrounded by magic everywhere she turned. First they explored a shop called Madam Malkin's, where she was fitted for some school robes and a uniform. The shop was full of children, around Hermione's age, with their parents, excitedly buying their uniforms. One family stood out in particular for Hermione as two red haired boys teased a younger red haired boy loudly. The group of red haired wizards passed them after finishing at the counter.
"Fred! Leave your brother alone!", A small red haired woman shouted as the family left the shop. After buying her uniform, a wand and her school equipment, the last place Professor McGonagall took the Grangers to was a book shop called Flourish and Blotts. Hermione felt as if all of her Christmas's had come at once. She was surrounded by books. Some brand new and some looking as if they had been read over a thousand times. She would have spent the whole day in there if she could but Professor McGonagall had soon gathered the books that she needed for school and they left the shop.
"Now, I assume you'll be alright getting back home by yourselves from here?", Professor McGonagall asked.
"Yes, we'll be fine, thank you", Mr Granger smiled.
"Thank you, Professor", Hermione smiled brightly.
"You're very welcome. I shall be seeing you in September", she smiled softly before leaving the Grangers in the middle of Diagon Alley. September arrived rather quickly and Hermione had read over all of her school books at least ten or twenty times by September 1st. She had taken a particular liking to a book called Hogwarts; A History. The family made their way to Kings Cross Station on that cold September morning. Hermione pushed a trolly carrying her luggage excitedly through the station.
"Hermione, sweetheart? This cant be right-", her mother spoke, scanning a small ticket in her hand. "This says 'Platform 9 and 3-quarters'? There's no such thing!". Hermione took the ticket to have a look for herself.
"I don't remember reading anything about this- if we just go to platform 9, maybe there will be someone there to help us", she smiled, continuing towards platform 9. As they approached the platform, they just stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen.
"Should we ask someone?", said Mrs Granger.
"Hold on a moment!", Hermione spoke as she saw the same red haired familyfrom Madam Malkin's pass them. She followed the family as they came to a stop in front of a wall that was directly in between platforms 9 and 10, and before she knew it, one by one, each member of the family began to run at the wall, completely disappearing. "I don't think that'd be safe for you and dad", Hermione said coolly as the red haired woman disappeared into the wall.
"Are you sure you'll be alright, sweetheart?", her father asked, a look of worry on his face.
"I'll be fine", Hermione smiled softly. Her parents huddled around her taking part in a silent hug before letting go of each other.
"Be careful! And make sure you stay out of trouble", her mother called as she made her way towards the wall.
"I will", she called back before running, bravely, at full speed straight into the wall. Hermione suddenly found herself on a completely different platform, where a big red steam train bearing the words 'Hogwarts Express' on the front of it waited. Hermione took a deep breath and smiled softly before taking her trolly and boarding the train. After putting her luggage safely in a carriage in the middle of the train, she sat down and stared out of the window, watching as the parents outside bid their children goodbye. As the train began to leave the station, a boy suddenly entered the carriage Hermione was sitting in. He had a chubby build with a round face, and messy blonde hair.
"Hullo", he said shyly.
"Hello", Hermione smiled confidently, "I'm Hermione Granger".
"N-nice to meet you-", the boy stuttered, "I'm Neville. Neville Longbottom".
"Nice to meet you, Neville", Hermione continued to smile.
"Um- I don't know if you could help me? I've- um- I've lost my toad, Trevor. He's definitely on the train somewhere", Neville asked.
"A toad!", Hermione scrunched up her face before sighing. "Have you tried asking in any of the other carriages?". Neville nodded quickly.
"Only a few. Some of them just laughed at me and told me to get lost", he explained. Hermione sighed sadly, feeling sorry for Neville, knowing what it was like to be laughed at. She stood to her feet and patted down her clothes.
"I'll try asking in some", she told him.
"Thank you", Neville smiled shyly as Hermione passed him to leave the carriage.
*The next night*
Hermione sat up in her bed in the Gryffindor girls dormitory with a piece of parchment on her lap and a quill in her hand, writing a letter to her parents;
Dear Mum & Dad,
Hogwarts is absolutely incredible! I love it here so much. There a four different houses here, they're sort of like different classes. There's Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. I was sorted into Gryffindor! Which is a house for the brave and the daring. I was quite shocked really, I thought I would have been sorted into Ravenclaw (which is a house for the witty and the intelligent), and the Sorting Hat (an enchanted hat that decides which house to put you in) was considering it too, but it decided on Gryffindor. And I met Harry Potter on the train yesterday! He's quite famous in the wizarding world, I read about him in the Daily Prophet newspaper I bought when we were in Diagon Alley and he's in Gryffindor too. He seems like a very nice boy, but I don't think his friend, Ron, likes me very much. I had my first day of lessons today and it was fantastic, I really enjoyed charms and transfiguration and, well, everything really. I miss you both madly and I cant wait to see you both at Christmas. I'll have so much more to tell you by then!
Lots of love,
Hermione.