Hi so here is another story, my first multi-chapter Harry Potter story. This is based on one of my all time favourite characters Hermione Granger and one of the earliest heroine's that I ever had.
This story tells Hermione's first year at Hogwarts and will be about ten to twelve chapters. Most of the dialogue will be my own I don't want to take too much from the book but there will be some overlap.
Disclaimer-Nothing is mine all of it belongs to the queen J.K Rowling's
Please Read and Review
Tougher Than The Rest
How did Hermione Granger go from the lonely little girl who loved books a little too much to part of the most famous trio in Wizarding History? This is the story of Hermione's first year at Hogwarts in which she fights a troll, makes friends, and takes on one of the darkest wizards of all time.
Chapter One-
Nobody would ever say she was afraid.
Nobody would ever say she decided as she stood on the platform where the train in it's impressive scarlet colours was standing, that she Hermione Granger was afraid. She was not afraid of this journey, of this school, of these abilities she possessed.
Her parting with her parents was strangely painful. Hermione had known boarding school was on the cards for quite a while, all of her teachers had said she would gain without question a scholarship at some fancy private school but that was before Professor Minerva McGonagall turned up to explain to her that she was a witch, that she had magic, that the little things she swore she could do but disregarded because of impossible logic were true.
No longer she did she wonder why her clothes changed colour in the middle of the night or why she woke up in the early hours of the morning to see her stuffed rabbit doing some kind of a dance or why she mysteriously seemed to get out of PE by her teacher forgetting to ask her every week if she wanted to take part allowing her time to curl up in her primary school's small library with a book that should have been too advanced for her.
Now she had a reason for all of those strange happenings. Magic. And as illogical as it sounded to her it explained so much.
She was standing on this platform now watching with wide eyes these students, first years, last years and students going back to school, owls and broomsticks and flying golden balls, she had never seen anything like this, Hermione was sure that there was no book in the world that would describe what she was seeing right now.
She had dressed in her school robes this morning in the hotel. Her parents had travelled down and they had spent the night in the hotel to break up the drive. She had gotten changed then after cleaning her teeth, her mum had tried to convince her to wear her tartan skirt and red cardigan that were by far the best clothes that she owned but something in Hermione balked at the thought.
This was the start of her new life and she was more than ready, she had her wand in her book bag the smooth stick of wood that would define her education for the next seven years, that would define her life for the rest of the time that she was a witch. Good Grief she had never imagined she would be saying that.
Her mum and dad were talking to the porter who perhaps seeing two people who didn't have a clue what they were doing was generously helping them load up her trunk. Hermione took them in with one swoop of her eyes. Her mum and dad were taking it well she thought. The night she had been told that she was a witch had resulted in her parents opening what they called the 'Emergency Whiskey' and drinking half the bottle while she had sat there in her pyjama's trying to memorise Professor McGonagall's instructions as what to do when she got to this pub in London, 'The Leaky Cauldron'.
She swallowed again viewing the train as the warning whistle blew. This was her moment, her battle cry, this was the moment where her life changed for the better.
She hoped that she would make friends, deep down that was what she hoped for. Hermione had managed to maintain civil relationships with her friends from primary school, there was Jessica and Jennifer, Juliette, and Niamh but they were friends to sit with at lunchtime they were not friends that she talked with a lot outside of school, she had never had a best friend she realised. Not someone that she could trust with her deepest darkest secrets.
She was hoping that she could find friends in this new school, in this brand-new world she was heading into, in this brave new world that she would become a part of. A part of her wanted nothing more to do than to crawl under the covers in her old room and pretend that this wasn't happening but a part of her wanted to get on that train in equal measure and find out how to harness these powers of hers.
Her mum came back to her side then and Hermione watched her clutching the strap of her book bag closer for comfort. Her mum had given her this bag when she had gone to Diagon Ally, it was she had said almost shyly-a taste of her normal life in a decidedly unnormal world. It was tan leather and the buckles were shiny and in it Hermione had two books, her well-worn novel 'Pride and Prejudice' and her latest read out of all of her Hogwarts school books so adeptly named 'Hogwarts-A History'.
Right now she looked as nervous as Hermione felt, and that was saying something she knew.
"You have your jumper in case you get cold?" her mum asked and Hermione decided not to point our that it was pointless because she was wearing her Hogwarts jumper under her robes and therefore wouldn't get cold but she nodded and her mum's face relaxed somewhat even though her hands were still nervously clutching the air next to Hermione's shoulder.
The whistle blew and her father who came back breathing heavily as if lifting a trunk had tired him out smiled.
"All aboard darling" he said dropping a kiss onto the top of her hair. Hermione smiled at him and when her mum pulled her into a hug she squeezed her back just as hard trying to remember this feeling of being safe in her parent's arms because she knew that this would have to sustain her through the next four months until Christmas when she could see them again.
She climbed onto the train not looking back and made her way to what looked like an empty compartment, well…there was a boy already sat there what looked like a toad in his hands and looking even more nervous than her mum. She sat down and his eyes darted around the compartment nervously her smile apparently not doing much to deal with his nerves.
"Hello" he mumbled finally dropping the toad onto the seat next to him and shooting her another nervous look and then he dropped his eyes to his knees and something in Hermione took pity on him and she felt herself smiling back. "Hi" she said brightly.
"My name's Hermione Granger this is my first year at Hogwarts, I was ever so surprised when Professor McGonagall came and told me I was a witch but I am really excited to see Hogwarts for the first time aren't you? What's your name?"
The boy blinked. Hermione knew she had a tendency to ramble when she was nervous but she got the impression that she had spoken so fast this boy had no idea what she was saying. After a second's pause he spoke and his voice was so quiet she had to strain her ears to hear him.
"My name is Neville Longbottom" he said finally before ducking his head away his cheeks pink. "I've known about Hogwarts for a while, my Gran's a witch and I live with her" he said finally in a rush as if he had no choice but to say what was in his mind once the thought was there.
She nodded in what she hoped was an encouraging way for him to continue.
They chatted a little on the train journey. She learned Neville was what they called 'Pure-Blood' therefore having parents who were both wizards but she never learnt what happened to them as she thought it was impolite to ask. He did not seem to have a problem with her being what he called a 'Muggle-Born' shrugging his shoulders when she asked about the work and saying it was much the same in an ordinary school some were bright some were not which made her relax a little.
Hermione learned that Neville like plants and after some coaxing he asked her about muggle plants. She was telling him about the bouquets of flowers that you could buy and send through the post and Neville was finally interested in how you could keep them fresh and fragrant for weeks on end when his toad named Trevor promptly took advantage of the school trolley to hop his way out of the compartment.
Neville promptly ran off telling Hermione over his shoulder to use his money bags to pay for their sweets and the older woman perhaps seeing a muggle born student helped her to pick out six sickles and three knuts to pay for the selection that they had chosen including pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs, jelly slugs and cauldron cakes. She turned to pick out a book and after much deliberation chose 'Pride and Prejudice' there was plenty of times that she could read her magical books when she got to the school.
She had just gotten to the part where Mr Darcy was professing his love for Elizabeth when the door to the trolley opened up and she saw Neville come back in his face flushed and near tears. She dropped her book. "Have you lost him?" she said in a kind voice-or what she hoped was one. Neville nodded looking tearful.
Something in Hermione's heart went out for him and she dropped her book. "Come on" she said finally. "Let's go find him then"
The first compartment that she came across had two boys in it. One had dark hair and round glasses and the other had red hair and dirt smeared up his nose. Both were chewing on sweets and the red headed boy was eating like he had been starved for days.
She introduced herself and Neville and learned that the boy with red hair was going to do magic. She had never seen magic up close except the spell that Professor McGonagall had used in order to convince her that magic was real. Compared to that spell she thought the one the red headed boy was using seemed to be nothing more than a joke and she told him so before her brain could catch up with her mouth.
The red head scowled at her, his name she learned was Ron Weasley but the black haired bespectacled boy she learnt was Harry Potter responsible for the death of the darkest wizard ever known in wizarding history whose name she didn't know because it seemed no book ever wanted to publish it.
She didn't understand that. Hermione's dad had always told her that 'fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself' but she understood from her reading that this wizard who this boy in front of her had defeated had done unspeakable things.
She pointed out that he was famous in all of the books that she had read to which he gazed at her blankly with those green eyes. Hermione wondered if he actually knew what had happened to him, if what had happened the night 'He Who Must Not Be Named' instead she decided not to comment on it and once they ascertained that neither one of them had seen the toad she turned and took Neville with her down the corridor in search of that damn toad.
She left Neville talking to the conductor about his toad and she turned to go back to the compartment and pack up their bags. She wanted nothing more to do than to sit back down and read but she wanted to go back to the boys and tell them that they better get changed.
Hermione came to the compartment just as a blonde boy was leaving, she couldn't see his face but from the way the other two bigger boys flanked him he was acting like they were his bodyguards.
The second conversation with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley was as bad as the first. Harry seemed very nice if quiet Hermione decided, if she was partnered with him in class she might like him. Ron Weasley on the other hand was both rude and irritating.
She stormed off to find her book and when she sat down she allowed the comforting words of Jane Austin to take her mind far away from boys with toads and red hair and haunted looks in their eyes.
Hermione didn't look up until Neville came back. She waited outside while he got changed and then he turned back to a plant he was carrying in his bag and she turned back to her book until the train conductor said on the loudspeakers that they were nearing Hogwarts.
She put down her book and clutched her bag strap excitedly.
There was nothing that was going to distract her from this year, from what she was going to learn at this school. Nothing.
As she stood there on the platform watching the other first year's plough forwards following a mysterious voice she thought just once that it was a shame that that boy with red hair was so rude.
And let me know what you think. Next Chapter should be posted soon, let me know if you think this is an idea worth continuing.