ii. Mudblood

When she first gets to the wizarding world, she hears the word Mudblood within ten minutes. (Ron and Harry think Draco Malfoy is the first person to yell it at her, later in their second year, but they never really did understand, did they?)

She is getting her wand, and her parents are standing behind her, very much excited for her, but also vaguely terrified. A boy walks into the shop – and she'll later recognize him in Gryffindor and feel a little sick to her stomach – and he immediately sneers upon looking at her parents.

Hermione knows she doesn't know any spells yet, but if he says one word about her parents' race – about her race – she knows she will fight him right there. She's expecting it; she's ready for it.

Instead, the boy turns to his parents and says, "Looks like the Mudbloods are here. We should come back later, when they're not polluting the area."

Hermione half-expects his parents to disapprove; after all, her parents would never let her get away with talking like that. Instead, they look disgusted, like they've just smelt something rather foul, and walk out of the shop.

Her parents have been looking at wands on the shelves, and they've missed the entire exchange, but Hermione feels vaguely like she's been punched in the stomach. When they turn back to her, she's schooled her expression. Mr. Ollivander comes back into the room with another stack of wands, and Hermione picks one up.

She's been dealing with racism her whole life – and she's beginning to realize her parents have too. But as she holds up her wand, and it turns warm in her hand and shoots out a few sparks, she realizes it doesn't matter if she's a "Mudblood," she's a witch – and Hermione vows right there to be a good one.