Hermione slept the rest of the day and through the night. She'd been exhausted, but felt much better when she woke the following morning. Hermione could hear voices whispering around her and instantly grabbed her wand which she kept under her pillow, her war reflexes kicking into action, but when she realized where she was, in her dorm room, she relaxed slightly. Hermione opened her curtains and four girls stopped talking and turned to stare at her.
"Hello, I'm Hermione" she said, trying a light and cheerful tone of voice, even though she felt anything but.
The girls perked up at her seemingly good mood, Alice Nott introduced the three other girls. There was Violet Macmillan a small girl with bright blue eyes, Kirsty Jones who had bright blonde hair and a kind face and Walburga Black...Hermione gasped when she saw her, who she knew as the shrieking portrait in Grimmauld Place, Walburga had severe features and a stern face, even for someone so young. It was very strange seeing her in the flesh. Hermione couldn't stop staring.
"Do I have something on my face? Stop staring!" Walburga snapped at Hermione, who blushed slightly and stuttered her apologies.
"Ignore Walburga, she's not a morning person. How are you, Hermione? I know it must all be so strange and new coming to the school late and all." Violet said nicely, saving Hermione from Walburga's wrath.
She smiled thankfully and said "Thanks, I'm fine but quite tired."
"Well you better get dressed quickly or you'll be late for classes!" Walburga snapped and walked out of the dorm with her nose in the air.
Violet rolled her eyes "As I said, ignore her. But you probably should get dressed, you don't want to be late for your first Housewitch class."
Hermione frowned, housewitch class? "What is housewitch class?"
Violet gasped "Haven't you had Housewitch classes? whatever school did you go to before! Housewitch classes teach women how to cook, clean and live their lives looking after their husbands and children."
Hermione gaped. Of course, the feminist movement hadn't come into action yet. Hermione thought it was barbaric that women were being taught such things, and wasn't sure how she was going to deal with that particular class.
Hermione still hadn't put away her shopping so her things were still in the bags, she rummaged through them for her uniform and books and hurried into the bathroom to change so she wouldn't be late. Not that she minded being late for such a ridiculous class.
When Hermione got out of the bathroom she saw Violet waiting for her, Violet smiled and said "I thought I ought to show you to your first class, we don't want you getting lost now do we?" With a smile she led Hermione out of the dorm. They walked through the common room, and Hermione tried pretend she didn't see the smile Tom Riddle gave her, and continued walking to her first class.
Hermione entered the classroom and saw a rather old looking woman, who was very tall and had salt and pepper hair in a very neat bun, with glasses low on her nose, and looked at everyone up and down sternly as they walked in. When Hermione walked past her desk the woman slammed her hand down on the table, hard. And stared at Hermione.
"And what is this?" The woman picked up a strand of Hermione's hair in disgust "Your hair looks like a loo brush!" With a pang Hermione noticed several Gryffindors sniggering, and it was the Slytherin's glaring at them for it. "And on your first day, you make this impression." The woman tutted and sent her over to her seat, the only free one which was next to Walburga, who looked down her nose at Hermione.
"That disgraceful student is new to our school, Hermione Dumbledore. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore was positively disgusted to see such a display of carelessness of appearance." She tutted again "Miss Dumbledore, I am Professor Smythe and I am your Housewitch Class teacher. I hope by the time your stay at this school has ended, I'll have transformed you into a new woman. Now class, open your book to page 327..."
Hermione glared defiantly at Professor Smythe and tried to tone out the lesson. A first for Hermione, but she really didn't care for such rubbish. She picked up parts of what the teacher was saying like "You should always groom yourselves for your husband" and "If your husband tells you to do something, you do it!"and gave up on listening through the entirety of the class. When the lesson was over, she grabbed her bag and trudged to the library for her free period. That lesson had put her in such a bad mood, that when she saw Tom Riddle walk over to her she sighed loudly.
"Is everything alright?" He asked with a frown.
"I just had Professor Smythe, so..." she gave a lopsided smile and kept reminding herself to be nice to him.
He perked up and gave her a wicked grin "Ah, I see. A lesson with her is bound to put anyone in a bad mood." he said with a laugh. Girls walking past turned to glare at Hermione, clearly jealous that she made their Prince laugh. Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes at them, but she had to admit, even his laugh was breathtakingly beautiful. She wasn't fooled though, she knew who he really was.
Hermione put on her most realistic laugh in reply, but could tell he wasn't exactly fooled with the look he gave her which was quickly masked with his usual pleasant, angel like facade.
"I'm just going to the library, see you soon" and before he had a chance to reply she turned and walked into the library.
The library was practically empty so she was able to get one of the best seats at the back by a huge window overlooking the grounds. She was next to the restricted section. Hermione needed to get in there to have a look to see books about the charmed necklace. It was important that she could gather as much information about it as possible. Hermione easily put down the wards and started her search in the time travel section.
Ten minutes later, she had pulled out several books and was scanning another one when a voice whispered in her ear "You're not supposed to be here" causing goosebumps to raise on her neck, she was about to make a grab for her wand, but a few beats later realized it was Tom Riddle and slowly turned around, her face inches away from his. She could see that his eyes weren't grey, but very light blue, and they had flecks of darker blue in them. She could feel his breath on her face and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge, in a pleasant way. Realizing this was Lord Voldemort's presence that was giving her pleasant feelings, she pushed him away, narrowly missing the anger in his eyes as she did this and picked up her books "I didn't realize I couldn't be in here, sorry." and turned away. He didn't follow her. Hermione thought that perhaps since him being nice wasn't working, he'd try to charm her instead. Well, Hermione thought firmly, it's not going to work with me.