Being the the adventures of the young lady Hermione in her first year attending Hogwarts Academy


Hermione leaned her head out through the window. "Stop the carriage please," she said calmly.

Violet and Jane looked at her with some surprise. "Hermione?"

"Look outside. There is a gardener working at Wulfric manor."

Violet took Hermione's place by the window. "Why so there is. Perhaps someone has come to live there again."

Jane looked interested. "I shall ask my father about it."

Hermione nodded and returned her attentions to the driver. "Carry on."

x

"Apparently a Lord Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore owns the manor. He has been journeying abroad for the last 20 years."

"20 years?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Has he gone around the world?"

"If you would believe the rumors, yes."

"I wonder what could have caused him to return."

"He plans to start a school."

x

Hermione broached the subject at dinner with her parents. "Papa, Mama, have you seen the developments at Wulfric manor?"

Her father smiled wryly. "Why you'll have to be calling it Hogwarts Academy now Hermione."

"Then you have heard. Have you met the Lord Dumbledore?"

Her father rubbed his forehead. "I suppose you could say that. He would like me to design a new wing to add to the manor."

"Truly? Have you accepted? What is he like?"

"You seem very interested in him, Hermione," her mother commented softly.

Hermione coloured lightly. "I have heard that he has journeyed through all the world."

"I would believe it of him. He does seem the sort of fellow," her father hesitated for a moment. "More then slightly eccentric though."

"How so?"

"He came to discuss the plans with me in the oddest clothes. A loose robe if you will. And it was covered with stars and symbols. I have never seen the like."

"Perhaps he picked it up on his travels," Hermione paused to finish her neglected lemon trifle. Her mother picked up the conversation.

"Do you have any ideas for the new wing?"

Her father sighed lightly. "It will be difficult. The manor is in a very old style. If I build anything like the models I have done recently it shall clash with the rest of the mansion. The best idea would be to re-design the whole manor but Lord Dumbledore does not wish to do that."

"I can not blame the man," her mother smiled for a moment. "It looks almost like a castle."

x

Hermione stood in front of the manor, her neck strained upwards to see the top. "It looks so much more alive now," she murmured.

"Doesn't it?"

She spun around. A red haired boy stood a few feet away from her, tentative smile on his face.

"Hi," he says. "I'm Ron Weasley. Are you going here?" he gestures to Wulfric manor – no, she corrects herself. It's Hogwarts Academy now.

"To the school?" she asks.

The smile comes more easily to him now. "Well I don't see any other places 'here' could possibly be."

"Maybe," she says, head whirring. "Maybe," she repeats herself.

x

"You want to attend Hogwarts Academy?" her mother looks at Hermione quizzically. "Why you barely know anything about the place."

Hermione chews her lip before she notices her mother's disapproving look. Unladylike. "I am thinking about it," she answers. "It is nearby. And I hear Lord Dumbledore has placed ads for the best scholars in the country. Abroad as well."

"Whatever happened to Beauxbatons?"

"I haven't made any decisions yet. I'd just like you and Papa to consider it."

"I suppose I could talk to your father about it. But why are you so interested in the place?"

"I don't know," Hermione answers. "Honestly? It feels like there's something magical about it."