Hogwarts a History – First year book of spells, supplementary
Chapter 02 – The book
…
'Stupid, inconsiderate, little git'
Hermione tore furiously through the library, the previous day still fresh in her mind, and her hair which had stubbornly refused to come down.
'Insensitive, Inconsistent… ugly smelly…'
She'd been ranting in her head for almost an hour and was beginning to run out of ways to adequately describe the youngest Weasley son without repeating herself. This of course only added to her frustration. I mean really, just one hour. Clearly she needed a good long sit down with a thesaurus as soon as possible.
In German perhaps. Such a delightfully guttural language.
Coming to Hogwarts she'd hoped things would be different from her other school. Hoped, perhaps foolishly, that magical people would be more accepting.
No such luck.
If anything she'd found many of them to be worse than the bullies at her old school. She admitted, though only to herself, it frightened her, magic in the hands of bullies. She'd heard some of the other students talking and she'd seen first-hand a few of the pranks pulled by the Weasley twins.
Unwilling to deal with such thoughts she put them away for the time being.
[In a tiny box in the dark corner of her mind, right under where her ire was still chained up.]
Despite having taken out several books the previous day she was once again scouring the library for literature, one could never have too many books after all. Though in truth she was mostly just avoiding the common room, taking refuge in the one place that had always been her sanctuary. What she wouldn't have given for a friend instead, just one, that wasn't unreasonable, was it?
It was a pipedream she had realized but that didn't stop her from wanting it. She'd be willing to put up with almost anything for just one friend. But no, instead here she was hiding in the library while the rest of her housemates tore around the common room electrocuting each other… actually come to think of it things weren't really so bad now were they.
Oh who was she kidding?
She'd have been willing to put up with a dozen Ron Weasley's and any stupid inane game they wanted to play if only she could be included.
She sighed, a heavy forlorn sigh as she shoved another book back onto the shelves and continued down the length.
"Gaaaah."
*Whoompf*
Hermione cringed. Seemed the universe wasn't satisfied with her being ostracized by her peers, it had to throw in some physical humiliation as well.
"What tripped me" she wondered aloud.
The offending object stood out proudly, a thick tome half on and half off the shelf. A perfect stumbling hazard if ever there was one. Seeing the culprit she resisted the standard urge to kick the stupid thing and instead pulled it out for a proper examination, she could always kick it later.
"Standard book of spells… supplementary", what an odd title she thought.
She'd certainly never heard of their being supplementary material to their text books. If she had she'd have been sure to get it. Perhaps it simply wasn't used anymore. The book did look a bit old and worn. Of course this really made no sense to her. If the material existed there was no good reason it shouldn't be taught.
Giving a shrug she opened the book and began to read, and read, and read some more. As minutes turned to hours she found herself drawn further and further into the text. The author was far more engaging than any she'd ever found in a text book before, and the material, well, some of it seemed a bit silly but she couldn't help but be fascinated by ever single spell detailed.
Finally realizing what time it was she took her new discovery to the check out and began heading back to the tower, nose firmly in book.
Navigating the halls with surprising skill, for someone who wasn't watching where they were going, she managed to get halfway to the tower before Mr. Murphy stepped in and…
*Whoompf*
*Oof*
"Ow, geez, watch where yur goin."
She knew that voice. Looking up she saw the irritating form of Ronald Bilius Weasley staring contemptuously back at her.
"Can't even pull yur nose out of the books long enough to walk down the halls" he sniped.
"Some of us came here to learn" she shot back, standing up and dusting herself off, "not just for the buffet."
Ron snorted, "Oh yeah, why dontcha 'learn' how ta walk" and with that he strode off feeling very superior.
Hermione growled, her annoyance at the ginger git coming to a peak.
"Hey!"
The youngest Weasley son turned to find a wand in the hands of a very angry witch pointed in his direction.
"Cranius Sole."
*BOOT TO DA HEAD*
"Huh" was all he had time to say before…
*BOOM* *THUD*
Hermione looked at her handiwork with a satisfied smirk. Picking up her new best friend she strode off leaving Ron Weasley lying stunned on the floor wondering where in the hell that boot had come from.