The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn by SheWalksWithRavens
This story is not HBP compatible! I personally am a fan of Dumbledore so he'll be sticking around. I don't own anything, this is a Tom and Hermione romance, if you don't like that well I'm sorry you've come to the wrong place. Read and Review m'dears.
Introduction
The warm summer breeze trickled through the slightly ajar window and into an average size bedroom. This however was no ordinary bedroom, for it belonged to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's star pupil, Hermione Granger. As such it was as neat as one could expect it to be. One wall of the room was dominated by an impressive collection of books, some were new, others older and well worn, and then a few leather-bound volumes were rather magical unto themselves. However, the one that Hermione had been aching to read all day was currently tucked securely under her bed.
Hermione on the other hand, was currently stuck at the dinner table making polite conversation with her parents and her aunt and uncle. They told them that Hermione attended a prestigious private and very exclusive academy in Scotland and that she had recently made Head Girl. Well, it was in fact the truth, even if they left out the fact that it was an academy for wizards. Smiling and nodding her head as they offered their congratulations Hermione couldn't feel more trapped. To think that the book it had taken her three years to find was right upstairs, and she couldn't read it was absolute torture.
"Maybe I could feign an illness," Hermione mused as her Uncle Lawrence told his infamous story about accidentally spilling hot coffee on the Prime Minister... for the fifth time that evening.
"Or maybe I'll get lucky and Voldemort will kill me this very instant that way I will be free."
"No. I can't joke about things like that... we are in the midst of the war Hermione. Which is why I need to get a hold of that bloody book. Argh!" Hermione dropped her fork to her plate with a clatter causing everyone to look away from Lawrence.
"Oh sorry, it slipped..." Hermione said before taking a large swig of the wine in her glass.
Hermione had turned eighteen at the start of the summer holidays, the time turner she used in her third year of schooling effectively adding another year on to her life, so her parents allowed her to have a glass of wine with the meal. Of course it was white wine as red would stain the teeth, but that didn't matter, the alcohol was a necessary component of controlling her nerves.
"So, Hermione, this school of yours, do you have any handsome bloke there?" Came the gossipy voice of her Aunt Victoria.
"Please Vicky, Hermione is so concerned with her studies she hasn't even noticed boys yet." Said her mother who was slightly intoxicated at the other end of the table.
"Thank heavens for that too. You don't know what a comfort it is to know that your daughter isn't a floozy at night. Nah, our Hermione probably has never even kissed a boy." Chimed her father.
Hermione groaned. "Make it all go away... just make this go away."
"May I be excused?" Hermione stated more than asked before leaving the dining room and going out into the hall.
But the voices she so longed to escape still floated into her ears as easily if she were amongst them.
"Well no offense to you Emma, but Hermione isn't just the beauty that you were when you were younger. Her face is too plain, that hair is too wild, and those clothes? No wonder she has no boys knocking down her door. No one is going to want to date her like that." Stated Victoria simply.
However, what hurt more than Victoria's comment about her appearance was her parents lack of opposition to this statement. They agreed with her! They agreed with her pigheaded cow of an Aunt! It was enough to make Hermione pail and her eyes narrow in anger.
If she had any reserves about opening that book, they flew right out the window. Dashing upstairs, she launched herself into her room and pulled the book from beneath the bed but not before firmly locking the door behind her.
The volume was rather heavy, bound in black leather and pages that had aged to a lovely gold. It smelled musty, but then again it was nearly a 100 years old. She ran her small hand reverently over the cover, taking her wand in her hand as an extra precaution she muttered the Latin incantation on the cover to open the lock:
"Ab aterno. Ab imo pectore. Inter spem et metum. Mutatus Mutandis, ibidem. Lux mundi. Fiat."
She tappedher wand once on the lock but to no avail. The blasted thing wouldn't open. She said it again, more loudly and tapped the lock again but it wouldn't open. This couldn't be right, she had researched this book from head to toe and everything she read stated that by saying the incantation on the cover you would open a gateway and gain the greatest knowledge one could ever hope to learn. She needed that information to help Harry defeat Voldemort. She tried it again this time adding a slight swish and flick moving before tapping the lock.
Hermione tried it several more times, varying the pronunciations but still nothing. Convinced that the book was a dud she tossed it haphazardly on to her desk. "What a waste of 15 galleons." Placing it at the bottom of her school trunk only moments later and passed out on her bed. Tomorrow would be better, tomorrow she would she would be back at Hogwarts as the new Head Girl.
a/n:
The English translation of the book inscription is as follows:
"From the beginning of time. From the bottom of the heart. Between hope and fear. With the necessary changes, in the same place. The Light of the world. Let it be done." This will be explained further later. Also not all chapters will be this short, this was just an intro.
Read and Review... perty please?
