Hermione Granger and the Philosopher's stone
Chapter 1- First Spells and Friendless
Today was Hermione Jean Granger's introduction into nursery. She had never felt this excited before about anything, well that was a lie, maybe the time that her dad came home from Japan and brought back a kimono back. She had insisted wearing it everywhere, she loved the pink silk and the red flowers sewn into it. Her mother had managed to convince her not to wear it today however; she said that Hermione should wear some of her normal clothes for a change. Hermione tottered down the street, hand in hand with her mother. The school was gradually coming into site. She had been to nursery before but not in an actual school! A place with children her own age, she would be wearing a school uniform and belonging to a part of a group.
This technically wasn't her first day. This was the 'taster session.'
Hermione could see her soon to be fellow pupils materialising out of the thick fog that was lingering in the air. This was a typical October morning.
"Daddy needs to hurry up and catch up! Honestly, who forgets their jacket on a day like this?" Hermione said, squeezing her mother's hand. Hermione looked like both of her parents. If you stood her next to her mother, she was the spitting image of her, if she stood next to her father; she was the spitting image of him. Hermione had her mother's busy brown hair and freckles across her nose. Her mother had piercing, slightly intimidating icy blue eyes, whereas she and her father had chocolate brown eyes, warm and friendly, she also had his small button nose. He was a jolly blonde man with deep crinkles underneath his eyes when he smiled.
Hermione continued to gaze around her, soaking in all the surroundings. She had tried to memorize the route from her house to the school; come out her front door, turn left, then right but half way through a squirrel distracted her.
Excitement continued to bubble in the bottom of her stomach as they passed through the rusty ironed gates. Hermione gripped her mother's hand even harder. They were approaching the nursery when her father finally joined them. "Sorry about that!" Hermione laughed and passed through the door he had opened for them.
The nursery was fairly warm with squashy blue carpet under foot and children work was plastered all over the walls. Small plastic chairs had been assembled in a circle in the centre of the room; some children had already seated themselves down with parents standing awkwardly behind them. An approachable looking man was sat down in the circle also. He had scruffy brown hair and a creased shirt . His glasses sat perched on top of his head and a shiny name tag was pinned to his shirt. 'Mr Hethland.'
In the corner of the room sat a fish tank, Hermione bounded towards it. Aquatic life had always fascinated her, the fish she had beside her bed at home was s lot prettier. She had got him for her fourth birthday in September. His name was Henry Granger.
"Right" Said Mr. Hethland, standing up at last as the final families came through the doors. "My name is Mr' Hethland and I will be your teacher this year!" He had a warm, broad smile that was slightly infectious "Welcome to Lizpund Primary School, today I want everybody to get to know each other so the first thing we are going to do is go around the circle and say our names, age, where we live and our hobbies. Shall I go first?" He didn't wait for an answer and carried on "My name is Mr. Hethland, I am 28 years old, I live in Scott Green and I love to watch football." He smiled around again. "Everybody got the picture? Good" He turned to the boy sitting next to him. He had a confident face and sandy hair.
"My name is Joe Fuller, I'm four years old, I live at 109 Cricketers Lane and I love pretending I am Super Man and save the world!"
"My name is Scarlett Messenger, I am five years old, I live in Red Hill Road and I love ponies."
All the children introduced themselves and seemed fairly comfortable with it all, apart from one girl who refused to speak. And it was at last, Hermione's turn. She was the last person to say anything. A small lump started to form in her throat.
"E, my name is Hermy- I mean Hermione Granger, I am five years and I live at Lyne Walk and my hobbies are reading and basic maths."
Mr Hethland stared at her for a moment. "You can read?" An amazed tone was in his voice.
Hermione nodded, her self-esteem rising. "I have read 'Matilida' with my mummy. I like Kipper books and The Tiger who came to tea."
Mr. Hethland looked amused, them his face broke into a broad smile. "Well, Miss Granger and too all of you, I hope you have a very friendly and enjoyable time here! Please feel free to look around and explore your school!"
The students rose nervously to look around their nursery. Hermione headed for some bean bags in the corner near the heater and a small bookcase.
"Hermione, why don't you go and play with that little boy by the sand pit, he looks lonely." Hermione looked across the room, to a black haired boy with a happy face. He looked quite satisfied in his own company but Hermione knew what her mother was talking about. She meant; 'Hermione, go and make some friends because you look lonely."
"Okay mummy!" Hermione got out of her squashy bean bag and went over to the boy. "Hi, my name is Hermione, what's yours?" The boy looked up from his sandcastle at her.
"Go away. I don't like girls, their smelly and dirty." He clipped his hand to his nose and waved the air with the other. He walked away and blew a raspberry at Hermione as he went.
"Well, I was just-" But the boy blew another raspberry at her.
Hermione was shocked. She stood there, blinking back tears. The boy was horrible, all she wanted to do was be nice and be his friend.
She watched the boy go over to the sinks. He caught her eye and mouthed the word dirty at her again. She was furious, she wanted to march straight over there and be horrible to him too, but she was nicer than that. She went to turn back to the book case but something strange happened. As the boy went to turn off the tap, it cascaded out more violently and soaked the bottom of the boy's tee-shirt. The boy looked stunned and jumped back out of the way. He went to turn it off again when it exploded! Water gushed everywhere, like a miniature tidal wave, drenching the boy from head to foot. The boy looked to bewildered to be upset.
"Oliver! What happened?" A black haired woman flapped and fussed around. Hermione presumed it was Oliver's mother. "What happened?"
But Oliver didn't move. Mr. Hethland came bustling along with fresh clothes from the chest of drawers by the toilets. "Let's get you mopped up and dry whilst everybody else sits around in our circle again.
Hermione took her mother's hand and was lead back to her seat. "Hermione, are you okay?" Her mother asked. Hermione nodded, but she was fibbing. She felt all tired and ill.
"Now, I hope we are all introduced and friendly with each other. I thought it might be a good time for snacks and a story!" The children cheered and headed for a circular table with strawberries and milk cartons on.
Mr. Hethland called the parents in closer. "Please, feel free to leave any time you like, I think the children are settling in really nicely and-"
BANG!
There was a shout of surprise from the children and all heads turned towards them, the children however were all staring at Hermione, horrified.
The parents rushed over.
"What's the matter?"
"Sweetheart are you okay?"
"Is anything wrong?"
They all continued to stare at Hermione, somewhat in a trance.
"She made all the milk cartons fly!" One girl screeched and pointed at the ceiling. All twelve cartons were suspended weirdly in mid air.
"What the-" Mr Hethland started to say.
"Oliver snatched a milk carton off of her and said she couldn't have it because she was smelly and nasty and, and she was really upset then they just...rose into the air."
"I think there has to be a logical explanation!" Mr. Hethland, though his voice was uncertain.
"Hermione, what happened?" He asked to her gently. The truth was she wasn't sure, she was angry and confused. She felt sicker than ever and all she wanted to do was go home.
"I-"
"She's a witch!" Oliver cried "that's what happened! It was her fault I got sprayed with water and her fault about the milk cartons."
Hermione was so confused that everything seemed to go as a blur. She heard her mother shouting at Oliver's parents who were trying to defend him, children gazed at her, terrified and she separated from the group to the side of the room.
Oliver was told to have a time out on the naughty step. He barged into her "This is your entire fault, witch!"
Hermione burst into tears, all she wanted to do was make friends and have a good time and instead she was stood crying, confused and ill in front of her entire class. Arguments continued to wash over her like a wave.
"MUMMY!" That shut everyone up. "I want to go home!"
