Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I would not have made the Weasleys the paragon of family-hood because calm, rational, intelligent, progressive and *gasp* even richer families can be supportive and loving too. (I'm not speaking from experience but from theory. Not that I didn't grow up in a loving family. Right, I'll stop now...)
AN: I think, for the most part, every year will consist of three chapters: 1 for the summer, 1 for the first half of the school year (until Yule Break) and 1 for the second half of the school year (from January to the end of school).
Keep in mind that everything is written in retrospective. I'm considering ditching this format but am keeping it for now. So, for the next three chapters, everything is from the perspective of Hermione at the beginning of her Fourth School Year thinking back to her Third School Year. That's why we start with the first day of Hermione's Fourth Year of School and abruptly jump to the Beginning of her Summer Break after Second Year (because each year segment includes the summer previous + the entire school year).
Many thanks to my betas, Lux Luthor and Radical, for their fantastic suggestions and impeccable insight.
The Ravenclaw Chronicles: Year Three
Part One: Summer Niçoise
The First Day of Hermione's Fourth Year of School
Hermione ran through the barrier at Platform 9 ¾, searching for a head of messy black hair. She spotted Harry next to Sirius, and ran toward him, enveloping him in a tight hug.
"Harry!" She exclaimed, "Oh I'm so glad you're here. Are you OK? Are you injured in any way? We were already in our tents and the Goldsteins portkeyed us away as soon as we heard the commotion so I didn't have anytime to check up on what happened to you – "
Harry pulled back but kept a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm Ok, really. Don't worry. We sort of had a run in with Draco Malfoy – "
"What!" screamed Hermione, turning to Sirius. "What happened?"
Harry patted her shoulder. "Its OK," he murmured. "We were fine. He just goaded us a bit about the attack. And then I lost my wand. Fudge came, and discovered someone used my wand to conjure the Dark Mark." Hermione gasped, but Harry spoke to preempt her question. "No I didn't get in trouble for it but this poor house elf did and was fired. And don't worry, Sirius already gave me hell for running off on my own with Ron and Neville."
"Oh, Harry," murmured Hermione, drawing him in again for a hug, "I'm so relieved you're OK."
Grinning roughishly at her, Sirius said, "Oh, don't worry. He's hiding some deep emotional pain," he winced as Harry elbowed him but continued on valiantly, "Make sure to give him some tender loving care at school, will you?"
Blushing at the implication, Hermione and Harry hurriedly stepped away from each other. She began turning her head to look for Padma and Anthony, and was relieved to find that they'd followed her. She called them over and turned again to Harry. "Well, we should be getting on the train now..."
Harry looked down and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah..."
"So I guess I'll see you at school then..."
He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah..." Suddenly he looked up at her, grinning, "unless you think you can handle being in a compartment with Ron for two hours."
Hermione groaned in disgust before quickly waving goodbye and walking off with Padma and Anthony. She thought back to last year, which had brought her and Harry so much closer together...
The Summer Following Second Year
It was only when they stepped onto the platform at King's Cross that Hermione realized the flaw in their plan. After not seeing her for several months and worrying about her while she had been petrified, her parents would want to actually spend time with her during the summer vacation. Especially since she already had plans to spend her month-long grace period with the Patils and Goldsteins.
Luckily, her parents had been planning to unwind on the French Riviera anyway. They agreed to a three-week family vacation right after her finals in mid-July. In mid-August, Hermione would rendezvous with Padma and the Goldsteins in Cannes while her parents returned home. She would stay with them for a week and half before returning to England to get ready for the new school year.
Two weeks into her grace period, she had an interesting discussion with their potions tutor, Horace Slughorn –
She, Padma and Anthony were packing their things at the end of the lesson when Mr. Slughorn asked them to stay behind. He pointed to the mirror in her messenger bag.
"Oh. That's a bespelled communication mirror."
Mr. Slughorn looked at her, willing her to continue explaining.
"We have a study group during the school year that's really effective. We'd wanted to continue it through the summer, but had difficulty doing so through owl. So we created a long-distance, instantaneous communication device. This mirror lets you 'call' anyone with a mirror virtually anywhere in the world, and allows for three-way calls."
"That is quite impressive. Who designed it?"
"We all did. We all researched the history of such communication devices and came up with the idea of using mirrors based on the rumored use of speaking mirrors in Avalon. Anthony got the mirrors and modified them to handle face to face communication. I modified the spell to work over long-distances. Padma worked out a method of allowing for multiple, simultaneous calls."
"Outstanding work, all of you. You should think seriously about patenting and selling these."
The three friends looked at each other before exclaiming, all together, "That'd be brilliant!"
Padma and Anthony rushed off to tell their parents. Hermione moved to leave, but Slughorn stopped her.
"Miss Granger," stated Mr. Slughorn, "You have an astounding intellect."
"Thank you, Mr. Slughorn. But we all worked on the mirrors."
"Oh, I'm not just talking about the mirrors. Although I'd be very interested in seeing your distance modification – truly impressive. No, I'm talking about your performance in my class."
Hermione could not take praise from authority well, although she positively reveled in it. She looked down at her feet, murmuring, "I just work hard, that's all. Especially in Potions, I have to...I don't have a natural talent for it like Padma..."
Slughorn interrupted her, declaring,"Nonsense. As Edison, a squib inventor, once said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." You could be a wonderful Potions Mistress, but your considerable talents might be served just as well elsewhere – Transfiguration or – Charms! Flitwick raves about you."
Hermione reddened. "In fact, you remind me of one of my all-time favorite students, Lily Evans. She was exceedingly bright...and, like you, Muggle-born. She was Head Girl her final year at Hogwarts...a Gryffindor, the first not from Ravenclaw in decades."
"I'm honored by that comparison, Mr. Slughorn. I myself hope to be Head Girl one day."
"Oho, I'm sure you will be, Miss Granger."
"What does Lily Evans do now, Mr. Slughorn? Perhaps I could write her to ask her for advice."
Mr. Slughorn's jolly face immediately closed up. "She, uhm,was killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, along with her husband, James Potter. She died so very young, it was a great pity..."
Hermione sputtered inside. Lily Evans was Lily Potter? But books that referred to the Boy-Who-Lived never mentioned his mother's maiden name or the fact that she was muggleborn. [1]
Slughorn was still talking while Hermione continued railing against the terrible biases of magical history books. He suddenly cleared his throat and made her an interesting offer –
"Tell you what. Lily was helping me with some groundbreaking research on improving the Wolfsbane potion during her sixth and seventh years, and I'm afraid I haven't made much progress on it since. Help me with this research. I'll give you credit if it ever gets published, and I know I have Lily's notes laying around somewhere. Its really cutting-edge stuff, I think you'll like it. Think of it as a long-term project. We'll do it over owl and meet every few months or so. Just do what you can, I know you're juggling school and friends as well..."
"That would be fantastic! Thank you, thank you for this opportunity. I'll work so hard on this; you won't regret asking me!"
He smiled kindly at her, but his eyes looked like they were seeing into the past.
She'd worried that Padma and Anthony might be jealous. So she was relieved to learn that their DADA tutor had made a similar offer to Anthony days before, on researching the best defensive techniques for several, obscure Dark spells used by Voldemort in WWIX. (She had to quell some stirrings of indignation that he had not shared Mr. Meade's offer with Padma and herself, but was too happy to care.) Padma, on the other hand, was depressed until she was asked by Slughorn, a day later, to assist in modifying a potion to more effectively heal damage from the Cruciatus. [2]
This sort of research assistance could eventually lead to apprenticeships, and Masteries, for all of them!
Mr. Slughorn did indeed find and lend Hermione Lily Potter's (née Evans) notes on the modified Wolfsbane. Seven, bound notebooks full of them, actually.
A couple days into reading them, she noticed a peculiar shimmer on some pages. Hermione ran some diagnostic spells and discovered some secrecy and invisibility charms. Once removed, they revealed some intensely personal ramblings.
She wasn't sure why Slughorn had these notebooks, but some entries were downright diary-like, even detailing the budding relationship between Lily Evans and James Potter.
She felt like a guilty voyeur reading these entries, but knew someone who would appreciate them. She checked with Professor Slughorn, who looked inordinately pleased at the idea. He helped her replicate the notebooks so she could keep the copies.
Hermione,
Thank you so much for owling me my mother's notebooks. It's the best birthday present ever. It's the first thing of my mother's I've ever held or read. I can't be any more grateful for this chance to get to know her, and my father. She was... so smart, so kind and so full of life...
(Here Hermione saw some traces of teardrops and immediately felt a deep sadness for Harry, who had not only been denied his parents for twelve years but knowledge of them as well. She was almost certain that she was the first person to see this side of Harry and felt immensely privileged.)
I'm happy that you're continuing her work with Mr. Slughorn. I'm thrilled for you, really.
Thank you so so much. I can only hope I'll one day be worthy of their sacrifice.
My eternal gratitude,
Harry
Hermione managed to fully catch up on all her work, but still only made it to number two on The List. Unfortunately, she displaced Anthony, who was bumped down to third.
She was determined to be number one next year, no matter what it took.
It was absolutely unacceptable that she had been distracted by rumors about Harry Potter. Hermione was sure that if she hadn't meddled (like Tony had advised), she probably wouldn't have been petrified. And she would've been fully focused on her work, not distracted by research on Slytherin's monster.
As top of The List this past year, Padma was now an even more serious competitor for Head Girl.
She didn't blame Padma. Padma had won, fair and square. Padma had not been distracted by the Potter rumors. Padma had not pushed research of Slytherin's monster. She hadn't run off on her own, been caught off guard and petrified. She hadn't let her commitment to academic excellence falter.
No, Hermione blamed herself. And, she promised herself that she would not let it happen again.
As such, she wrote to Professor Flitwick and told him she was determined to do her best this year, and wanted to take as many classes as possible. After many owls and promises were exchanged, Professor Flitwick got approval from the Department of Mysteries to let Hermione borrow a Time Turner so she could literally take all possible classes this next year. [3]
France was fantastic. The Granger family explored the cultural landscape of Nice and Monaco. They ate at charming family bistros and stunning waterfront restaurants along the Port de Fontvieille, walked around the Promenade des Anglais and Monaco-Ville, explored the cities' ancient Gaul, Greek, Roman and Genoan ruins, art museums, cathedrals, botanical gardens and palaces.
Then they headed off to the superb beaches around St. Tropez and Antibes to swim, sun-bathe, and sip rosé. They always ended their days lounging on the beach, chatting and people-watching while devouring salade niçoise or seafood and drinking crisp, dry Provençal rosés or full, herbal Cassis Sauvignon blancs. [4]
Reading ahead in a textbook and sunbathing on a beach in the French Riviera, the events of last year seemed so far away she could hardly believe that it had happened to her and that she had survived. She was able to tell her parents the story from a fresh, objective perspective and was startled at some of the insights she reaped.
She explained about the basilisk, Harry Potter and Voldemort. As expected, they were extremely apprehensive about her returning to what seemed to be a highly insecure location. Even with Dumbledore as Headmaster, Hogwarts had been infiltrated by Voldemort twice now: once through Quirrell and once through his diary. While it was unclear whether Harry Potter was the target of either attack, it was clear that becoming closer to him would only bring trouble.
To allay her parents' fears, Hermione agreed to stop by Beauxbatons with the Goldsteins and inquire discreetly about the possibility of transferring. Her parents didn't mind living in France, and were more than willing to move to preserve their only daughter's well being.
Hermione had no intention of leaving Hogwarts and the best friends she'd ever known. While the Goldsteins had agreed to visit Beauxbatons, she knew that they only did so to humor her parents. If Anthony left Hogwarts, she was sure they'd hire private tutors for him in England. She wasn't sure about Padma, but the Patils didn't have a house in France and private tutoring for both Padma and Parvarti was bound to be expensive. Hermione knew her parents couldn't afford five years of it. [5]
But Hermione was glad for the opportunity to check out Beauxbatons' DADA curriculum, and knew her friends would be too.
One day, while sunbathing on the Cap d'Antibes, her mother asked her why she'd been so interested in discrediting the rumors about Harry Potter.
"Because they weren't true!" she insisted strongly.
Sipping her wine, her mother smiled indulgently at her. "Are you sure that was it, dear?"
Hermione glared at Helen Granger before burying her face in her towel. "Fine. I was pleased with the idea that he needed my help. Not many people need or want my help, and if they do it's just to copy my homework. It never felt like he wanted to use me; he never asked me for help and never wanted my help with homework. He needed my research skills because he couldn't figure it out himself. Although I was annoyed that he gave up so easily. But maybe Padma and I were the only ones who could've figured it out... I felt special. It was nice to be needed and appreciated for being me, and not just as a homework machine. And he is a bit of a celebrity, even though he's not that great of a student..." [6]
Helen stopped Hermione's rant with a smile, and sat up to pour herself another glass. "Just remember that celebrity is a double-edged sword. Maybe you can do great good for the world by helping him – like this time, with the basilisk. And perhaps people will respect you more when they learn what you can do. But you could just as easily get sucked up into the mythology of the Harry Potter, and lose yourself in the process."
Hermione didn't want to be a 'friend of the Boy-Who-Lived' or the 'Brains of the Golden Trio.' She wanted to be named and known for who she was, regardless (not because) of who her friends might be.
She wanted to be "Hermione Granger, The Smartest Witch of Her Age."
Her mother's words gave her a lot to think about.
Hermione had a fantastic time at the Goldsteins' villa in Cannes. Anthony's father was the British representative to the International Confederation of Wizards and his mother a famous French robe designer. [7] They were very well off and their villa was expansive and luxurious. On Hermione's first day in Cannes, they went for a cruise on the Goldsteins' yacht and ate at the two Michelin starred restaurant, La Palme d'Or.
The three friends were ecstatic to see each other. They checked over each others' homework, discussed what they'd read in the schoolbooks for the coming year and told each other about their holidays and individual research so far.
Hermione also told Padma and Anthony about the diaries and her correspondence with Harry Potter over the summer. Surprisingly, both – even Anthony – were ambivalent about the idea of her becoming friends with him. Anthony only repeated his warning from last year about being distracted and falling behind in her studies. She assured him that she had no intention of repeating her mistakes of the previous year.
But Jeanette, Anthony's French cousin, was determined to make them have some fun. She thought they were all just so cute and precious, studying all the time. Jeanette was a seventh year at Beauxbatons. She was tall, blonde and glamorous and spoke, moved and walked incredibly fast.
She and her friends summered every year in Cannes and were determined to show Hermione, Padma and Tony how the French vacationed. They walked around the old town, climbed the castle ruins, visited Notre-Dame d'Esperance and bought trinkets from souvenir shops. They ate at bistrots on rue Meynardiers and always finished off a day with chocolates from the stores on Rue d'Antibes.
To Anthony's dismay, one day Jeanette and her friends dragged them to shopping on La Croisette and at Molinard. Jeanette's enthusiasm was infectious and she eventually helped Hermione and Padma pick out sun dresses at a cheaper boutique.
Anthony was resigned to the role of portable bag holder for the day.
At Molinard, they learned about the art of perfume making and they each had a scent custom-made. Even Anthony got a spiced, sandalwood cologne. Then the girls insisted they dress up to go to a fancy restaurant at night and forced Anthony into a suit. He was positively disgruntled at the girls' treatment of him, and annoyed that Padma and Hermione didn't stand up more for him. But no one could stop the tour-de-force that was Jeanette.
They also visited Les Îles de Lérins, two islands in the bay. They visited the monastery and ruined castle on Ste Honorat. Jeanette bought some wine from the monastery and they all shared a bottle while sitting on the beach and listening to the Beauxbatons' girls lurid stories about boys.
On Ste Marguerite, they went snorkeling in a small cove and ate a family-run bar where the French girls ended up loudly and drunkenly singing bar songs with the locals.
When Jeanette and her friends left halfway through the week, they were all a bit relieved. Padma, Hermione and Anthony spent the rest of the week lazing around in the villa, working on their independent research projects and sunbathing on the family yacht or swimming in a small, secluded cove they discovered on Ste Marguerite.
For a couple of days, the three friends forgot about The List and simply enjoyed life.
The distance back to England was too far to cover in one Portkey, so they took three different ones. The first stopped at Beauxbatons, in Lyon.
Jeanette had refused to talk about school during vacation, so it was their first opportunity to learn about the French school's DADA curriculum.
Though most students appeared as relaxed and flippant about their marks as Jeanette, even Beauxbatons' DADA curriculum was more comprehensive than Hogwarts'. France had borne the brunt of Grindelwald's wrath in WWVIII. In the immediate post-war period, many French Aurors and curse-breakers developed elaborate defenses against the heinous Dark curses used by Grindelwald's army. Many of these defenses had been incorporated into the upper level Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum at Beauxbatons. [8]
This discovery sincerely shocked the three friends. Durmstrang's extensive Dark Arts curriculum was easily explained by the school's reputation. But Beauxbatons was often regarded among magical educators as specializing in Charms and Astronomy, because the great majority of its students were female.
But Hogwarts was a greater target for You-Know-Who than any of the other schools. That actually seemed to be the only difference – if anything, Hogwarts had more comprehensive magical and physical defenses than Beauxbatons. But Beauxbatons had never been attacked by Voldemort, possibly because Harry Potter did not attend school there.
Transferring was a simple process, but Hermione was not enthusiastic about the possibility. Especially as the classes were given in French and there were so many differences in the curriculum. As such, she might be forced to play catch up again.
In the end, they thanked Headmistress Maxime for her help and resolved to write a letter of complaint to the Hogwarts' Governors. They then Portkeyed to Calais and had lunch at Jeanette's family manor. The three friends also persuaded Jeanette to loan them some of her old DADA textbooks. They planned to study them in their DADA study group.
After returning to England, the three friends still had a week left before school started. They spent this time reading even further ahead, although they had already read over half of the material for the new school year during the first month of summer. The day before school started, they headed to Diagon Alley to buy their school supplies. (They had already bought all their schoolbooks in July.)
They ran into Harry, Weasley and Neville at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry waved shyly at the Ravenclaws, gesturing for them to sit together. After some small talk about the summer and a Butterbeer, he suggested that they all go shopping for supplies together. She could tell Harry wanted them all to be friendly. Honestly, she was happy to see Harry but really did not savor the prospect of spending more time with Weasley.
Nevertheless, the six of them decided to head first to buy potions ingredients at the Apothecary. While in the store, Harry took her to the side and thanked her again for the notebooks. Hermione told him that she'd also been reading the notebooks over the summer and that she really admired his mother. Harry told her that he'd thought about it a lot over the summer, and was resolved to study much harder this year. He wanted to become worthy of his mother's sacrifice and had realized that he couldn't defend himself from Voldemort by playing Quidditch or chess.
She agreed wholeheartedly with Harry and told him that his mother would be proud of him for making a commitment to his education. [9] Hermione also offered to help him if he needed it, for which he thanked her.
The moment was ruined when they heard Weasley in a different aisle talking excitedly about how he needed to go to Ollivander's to get his new wand. Afterwards, they went to Flourish & Blotts, and Weasley started whinging after five minutes because he was bored and wanted to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies.
They eventually decided to split up – as none of her friends played Quidditch – and planned to meet up in an hour at the Magical Menagerie. She, Padma and Anthony were relieved once Weasley left, as they could now take their time looking at other books they could use in their study group. They also stopped by Obscurus Books, where they bought some very old looking books on Grindelwald, Dark curses, and blood rituals and the stationery store, where they picked up some Everlasting Ink Wells and Spell-Checking Quills.
They met up after an hour at the Magical Menagerie. Harry, Neville and Weasley were nowhere to be found so Hermione began looking around. She spotted a large ginger cat that seemed awfully gloomy, and fell in love right away with the creature.
"He's a right finicky one, he is," said the wizened old store owner. "Hisses at anyone who comes near him. Think it's the half Kneazle in him." He smiled at Hermione, revealing half a row of crooked yellow teeth. "Seems to like you though."
She playfully extended a hand out toward the cat, who began mewling softly at her. "It's because I know what it feels like to be misunderstood."
Padma joined her in front of the cat's cage and meowed at it. Anthony stepped up behind her, remarking,"Its awfully ugly" - the cat began hissing at him and they all laughed - "but smart, I guess."
"You're a smart boy, aren't you," Hermione asked the cat before rubbing him behind the years. "I'll take good care of you, I promise!" She turned toward the owner and asked, "How much?"
"Well, he's not likely to go to someone else so I'll sell him to you real cheap. Two galleons, maybe."
Hermione turned to Anthony, who was very money-savvy and always knew what things were worth. He shrugged in approval and Hermione handed over the money from her bag. The owner opened the cage and she picked the cat up, cooing to him, "I think I'll call you Crookshanks."
Hermione was cradling him in her arms when the 'Golden Trio' entered the shop.
Weasley stopped right in front of her and demanded, "What is that ugly thing?"
Hermione scowled at him, fed up with his rudeness. She tucked Crookshanks protectively under her chin and responded, "He is my cat. Actually, he's half-Kneazle."
"You actually bought that monster?" he asked.
"He is not an ugly thing or a monster," she said pointedly. "His name is Crookshanks."
At this point, Crookshanks decided that he did not like Weasley's rat and jumped out of her arms after it. Weasley let out a high-pitched scream that startled many of the animals in the store. Even worse, he started running after her cat, toppling over a number of cages and displays.
The owner became distraught, yelling at him to stop. Hermione stood frozen on the stop, unable to move – partly because of the peals of laughter escaping her mouth. Finally, Anthony successfully scooped up her cat while Harry picked up the sickly-looking rat by the tail.
Ears red from embarrassment and exhaustion, Weasley turned around to look at her accusingly. "You keep your bloody monster away from Scabbers, you hear?"
Anthony, still holding Crookshanks (who had now started purring), moved closer to Weasley and narrowed his eyes at him."You're pathetic, whinging all day and then blaming everything on a cat. You were the one insulting him. You were the one who screamed like a girl and started running around like a chicken with its head cut off when Crookshanks only followed a natural impulse to chase a rat."
Weasley turned bright red in anger and moved to open his mouth but was stopped by the indignant store owner. "Out, out! Or I'll make you pay for all this damage! I never want to see you again, you red-haired miscreant! You obviously don't know a thing about taking care of animals, from the looks of your rat! I feel sorry for your rat for having an owner like you!"
They all grudgingly left the store, but not before Padma, Hermione and Anthony snickered to themselves about Weasley's dressing down. Once they were all out, Weasley turned to Hermione angrily but was stopped once again by Anthony. Harry and Neville looked on worriedly from the side.
"Stop it Weasley, don't embarrass yourself further. We're leaving," Anthony turned to the other two Gryffindors, "Thanks, Potter and Longbottom. We'll see you two at school."
The three Claws then turned to go off to Florean Fortescue's for a much-needed scoop of ice cream. As they left, they heard Weasley sputtering and ranting, "Who the hell does he think he is, that great bloody prat, just because his dad's the ICW rep..."
Hermione decided that no matter how much she might like Harry and Neville, she would never be able to stand Weasley.
The next day on the train to Hogwarts, Hermione had a frustrating run-in with another Weasley. She was surprised when little Ginny Weasley entered their compartment and demanded to speak to her alone. Padma and Anthony lifted bewildered eyebrows in her direction before heading off to buy some snacks from the trolley lady.
The red-haired girl started right away, demanding, "What's your relationship to Harry?"
Confused, Hermione repeated, "Harry...?"
Weasley continued her interrogation unabated. "I know you've been writing him all summer so I want to know, what's your relationship to Harry?"
Annoyed at her abruptness, Hermione said, "I don't know..."
"What do you mean you don't know? Of course you know, don't lie to me!"
Stunned at the girl's hostility – Hermione had never even met her before – she asked suspiciously, "Why are you asking me? Why don't you ask Harry?"
The girl reddened considerably. "I have asked Harry. I just want to know what you think."
Hermione thought she might be fibbing, because as far as she knew Ginny followed him around but had never had the courage to really talk with him. She decided to be deliberately obtuse.
Also, she didn't actually know what her relationship with Harry was, so she had no idea what to tell the girl. And if Harry had told Ginny something, Hermione certainly didn't want to say anything different. She settled for, "Then I think what Harry thinks."
"You don't know what he thinks!"
"How do you know I don't?" She challenged.
Ginny threw up her hands in frustration. "Just tell me what your relationship with Harry is!"
"I already did." She was beginning to get some sort of enjoyment out of toying with this girl who evidently thought that Hermione was a threat to her imaginary relationship with Harry Potter and had decided to hostilely confront her.
"No you didn't! You purposely evaded my question!"
Apparently there was more to Ginny Weasley than she had thought. Perhaps she'd learned something from growing up in a household full of brothers.
"Ok, I did. But that doesn't change the fact that my relationship with Harry – whatever it may be – is none of your business."
"How is it none of my business? Harry's my friend!"
Hermione held back a snort of disbelief. "So this goes back to my original question – why don't you ask him? Do you not trust him to make his own friends?"
Weasley's face was bright red from anger, like the color of a ripe tomato. "No! Bloody hell, why can't you just tell me? Do you have something to hide?"
"Do you have something you're looking for?"
"Stop answering my questions with questions!"
"Stop asking ridiculous questions you have no right to be asking." Hermione was getting extremely annoyed by the second year's impertinence. And the interrogation about her relationship to a boy that she was barely friends with.
"I have every right to make sure Harry's not becoming friends with the wrong sort! He's my friend, and I'm looking out for him!"
"So you think you know better than Harry what kind of friend he needs?"
Weasley stood up angrily and began to move closer to her. Hermione began visibly fingering her wand. She then stuck out her hand, gesturing for Weasley to stop where she was.
"Whatever. What I've been trying to hint at is that you and I are not friends and I have no reason to give into your very rude demands that I answer your question. And that any relationship I have with Harry is none of your business, even if you are friends with Harry. He is his own person and perfectly capable of making his own decisions. Which you should know and accept, if you are really his friend."
"Don't tell me that I'm not really his friend!"
Hermione wasn't sure how much more straightforward she could be or how much longer she could tolerate the spoiled girl's rude behavior. She decided that it might be best if she ignored Weasley until her friends came back or the girl left, because it appeared that nothing Hermione could say would get through to her.
A few moments passed in which Weasley looked at her speculatively, as if expecting an answer. Hermione turned her head away to look out the window, before finally saying, "Look, I don't have anything more to say. I don't know what you hoped to accomplish here, but I'm not scared of you and I could care less what you think of me so I think you should just leave."
She didn't turn to look at Weasley but guessed that she was turning even redder. She held her wand firmly in her hand, ready to react if Weasley attempted a spell. But she was surprised when Weasley asked, quietly and almost shyly, "Do you like him?"
"Again, none of your business."
She continued in such an earnest tone that Hermione couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her. "If you don't like him," she paused, giving the appearance of a sweet, earnest schoolgirl. "Can you help me get him?"
Utterly dumbfounded, Hermione turned back to look at Weasley – face rouge with an embarrassed blush or indignant anger, she wasn't entirely sure – and asked, "Why would I do that?"
She whispered, sotto voce, "I love him." [9.5]
Hermione still wasn't sure whether or not to trust the innocent act, which was frankly more disturbing than Weasley's hilariously blatant indignation. She neutrally stated, "Lots of girls like Harry Potter."
True to form, Mount Weasley exploded in fury.
"But I'm Ron's sister! A Weasley! And he saved me!"
Relieved to have been right, Hermione laughed.
Evidently, Harry hadn't told her anything.
"So?"
"But I love him so much!" declared Ginny, passionately. "I've loved him since I was five and my mother read me the Tales of the Boy-Who-Lived!"
"So you don't like Harry the person, you like the myth of Harry, the 'Boy-Who-Lived.'" For the last part, Hermione used her fingers to make quotation marks in the air. "You didn't meet Harry the person until last year; how could you have liked him when you were five? You fell in love with some fairy tales and have now deluded yourself into thinking that you can make those fairy tales come true."
"You just wouldn't understand," Weasley said, sadly shaking her head. Falling back into her faux earnest tone, she whispered, "We're destined." A pause for dramatic effect. "Meant to be."
Hermione didn't know how to respond to Weasley's assertions of romantic granduer. "So if I don't understand, why are you asking me for help?"
"Why don't you help me?" she answered, suddenly smirking at having turned Hermione's tactic against her. "Are you scared he might actually like me?"
Hermione sighed. "Look, whatever the merits of your love, it doesn't change the fact that I have no reason to help you. I never do anything without a reason. You're not my friend and you haven't been all that nice to me. Even if we were friends, I wouldn't help you conspire against Harry to help you 'get him.' He's not a trophy to be won; he's a person. I'm not going to interfere with his love life, just like I wouldn't want him to interfere with mine. If Harry likes someone and asks for my help, I'll probably help him. But I'm not going to help any girls try to 'get' him – especially not someone who just rudely demands it like you."
"But Harry likes me!"
This conversation had passed ridiculous five minutes ago. "So then why do you need my help?" she asked, tiredly.
"Because he hasn't realized it yet! He just needs help realizing it." [10]
Hermione looked at Ginny Weasley, really looked at her. Her face was red, blotchy and scrunched up in frustration. She looked like a desperate, delusional little girl madly in love with her fantasy.
For the first time, Hermione felt pity for her. She so badly wanted her dreams to come true, she was resorting to delusions and lying to make it happen. Obviously, Harry had expressed no real interest in her, which was why she was threatened by a couple of letters she and Harry had exchanged over the summer.
But any pity she felt for the clearly delusional girl was quickly eclipsed by sympathy for Harry. Unfortunately, he got to be the living, breathing Prince Charming of Weasley's fairy tale.
For the second time that summer, she began to truly understand what it meant to be Harry Potter. He'd not only lost his family but most people he knew never really saw him. All they saw is what they wanted to see; a hero, a prince charming, a savior. But he wasn't any of that –
He was just a scared, sad boy who missed his parents and wanted to become better academically.
He was just like her, before she'd met Padma and Anthony.
But everyone else could never accept the real Harry. They would always expect, demand things of him that he might not be able to give. And when they were disappointed – and they inevitably would be, because Harry was human – they would vilify him and blame everything on his failure. Just like with the Heir of Slytherin fiasco.
It was as if everyone in Magical Britain gave up on saving themselves and decided one day that Harry Potter would be the one who would save them. All because he inexplicably survived the killing curse at the age of one. Hermione didn't know how she could stand to live under those circumstances – the weight of all those expectations might crush her.
And other people – like her – who might see him as just Harry would just as likely be scared of him and the danger any friendship would bring.
How did he live like that? How many real friends did he have? Did she even want to be his friend? Especially as it might get in the way of her own hopes and dreams?
Her reverie was interrupted by Ginny Weasley sticking her hand into Hermione's face and waving it around, as if to wake her from a faint.
"Granger? Are you going to help me or not?"
"No," she said, uncomfortable at the invasion of her personal space. "The only thing I'll say is that he will never like you if you continue to act like this. It is extremely unattractive."
She gestured for Weasley to leave and when she didn't get the hint, Hermione straightforwardly told her, " Please leave. I won't change my mind." She paused but couldn't help herself – "Except to say that you should seriously consider counseling." [11]
The sounds of Weasley's indignant sputtering were drowned out by Anthony and Padma's re-entry into the cabin.
NOTES:
[1] I am probably taking major liberties with canon here, but it is not entirely unbelievable that the books would leave out Lily Potter's maiden name and the fact that she was muggleborn. I'm not sure about the specifics, but I think that Harry only found out about his muggleborn mother from his teachers at Hogwarts, not from the books about him and his parents. Plus, we already know this world is very biased against muggleborns.
[2] This might be unbelievable to some, but if we persist in the idea that Hermione is the brightest witch of her age, then surely she must be capable of research at an early age? Several of my classmates in university had started legitimate scientific research in high school, some even in middle school. This is especially true if people are calling her the Smartest Witch of Her Age at the age of 15 or 16 or whatever it was in the books. Obviously, she had to have done something to deserve that title.
Lots of people have reviewed about Hermione's type of intelligence. In my story, she's not a super-unbelievable-amazing genius but she has innate skill at magic and is very keen on studying. She's smart, and even Edison said that - as Slughorn says in this chapter - genius is 99% perspiration. Really, I think there are two types of genius: 1) people who are smart, work hard and push themselves - they make up maybe 50% of the true geniuses in the world. They're not super smart, they were there at the right time or worked hard and long enough to discover something truly amazing. 2) people who are incredibly intelligent, off the wall IQs. But they do not always work hard and push themselves, and often fall to their own superior intellect and are unable to socialize and thus accomplish anything. Lots of kids who graduate from college at 16 or this one girl at my uni with an IQ of 200 but had a mental illness, became paranoid, homeless, eventually stopped eating and walked herself to death. My Hermione falls in the former category.
I buy into the "smartest witch of her age" moniker, for the purposes of this story, rather than Rowling's somewhat contradictory (which some people have pointed out) characterization of Hermione as just studying all the time and therefore, not that smart because she obviously has to put in a lot of effort to learn it all. In my defense and to clarify my characterization of Hermione:
1) She's the smartest witch of her age at the age of 15 or 16. I take this to mean that she's the smartest witch of her age group in all of England and therefore, all of Hogwarts. If that meant she was only the smartest girl in her class, then that's what they would say. She's the smartest girl in her year/class. So I think it's not just all the other 13/14 year old girls in her class (she's a 3rd year now). To me, this moniker encompasses all of England and quite possibly all of the world. But the latter is a) difficult to measure and b) difficult for people who are calling her this to reference. The only thing that may offset these two is that we know Dumbledore is one of the most powerful wizards in the world and he acknowledges her intelligence. So maybe she's smarter than a lot of girls in her age group beyond Britain too. But she works hard for it. Maybe there isn't a type 2 genius in her year? Or maybe we don't know about her?
2) Hermione has to do something in the intervening time to make people believe that she's the smartest witch of her age. So between 14 (as a 3rd year) and 15/16, she does something AMAZING. To earn this moniker. Is this too early? Is this research too much of an accomplishment? No. A) This research hasn't gone anywhere yet (even under Lily!) and isn't guaranteed to go anywhere impressive. B) Sixteen year olds in the US are graduating from college, playing at Carnegie Hall, producing master paintings and poems. Nineteen year olds are graduating from Harvard Law. If we assume that the people in Britain aren't dumber than in the US, and even accounting for the fact that Britain has fewer people than the US (and thus, possibly fewer high-achievers by the law of probability if we assume that maybe .001% of children are such prodigies) than we can expect similar achievements out of Hermione. This holds true even though the Wizarding population may be smaller.
[Skeptical of this type of reasoning? I can refer you to a prof who theorized that China was such a great world power pre-Industrialization (so in the Ming period) because it had such a high population and so successfully invented paper, fireworks, etc. due to the fact that its very large population gave it a larger portion of geniuses. But China lost this world power status to the Europeans because geniuses are not good administrators but are somewhat reclusive and technology destroyed its comparative intelligence advantage. Arguably now that China has industrialized in the post-Mao period, it's superior intelligence quotient is coming into play...see the many news articles about how much better Chinese are at math and sciences and how they will overtake the US (not to mention Europe) technologically in the future. The US's greatest fear.]
3) She studies a lot. She likes studying. In my story, this does not make her less of a genius. True, some true geniuses become bored very quickly with the easy material offered in their grade and slack off and never have to work hard. By this definition though, we'd think Ron was a genius. I highly doubt that. Just because she likes studying does not mean she is not a genius or smart. There's no causal relationship or certain link there. Not studying = cliche characteristic of a type 2 genius.
4) Keep in mind A) we see a caricature of her studying, a mocking of it really in canon by Rowling as well as Harry/Ron because no one else understands her love of knowledge and B) she has to study. She didn't know about magic until she was 11 and is years behind the pureblood and halfblood students. She has to catch up on all of the background and societal knowledge that the teachers *assume* one would know. Why is there no manual for muggleborns? Why is there "Muggle Studies" but no "Introduction to Wizarding Culture" offered?
5) Yes, there are differences between canon and my story. In my story, she thrives on her intelligence and finds emotional and intellectual support in her friends, who at the same time push her to be better and help her gain this type of background knowledge she needs to survive and thrive in this new world. So she innovates new spells, which I don't think is unrealistic because in my story, she is a genius. This is an AU. Regardless of whether or not she is a genius or overrated in canon, I choose to portray her as such and I don't think its unrealistic, like I argued before. She's certainly flawed - at potions, to an extent, at flying certainly and not as good as Anthony at DADA. But she is remarkable in her retention of knowledge and ability to analyze it and even more - she pushes herself. Hard. To accomplish. Some geniuses push themselves really hard to do well. They might study a lot not because they're not smart but because they're not confident, despite their smart. Some of them don't get overconfident, overinflated egos because they are ridiculed for their genius. Rather than rejecting society and educational institutions as social conventions, some of them still attempt to fit in.
So my Hermione is very smart, the smartest witch of her age - arguably, but still insecure, socially not that skilled, and certainly flawed in her abilities and knowledge. But I don't think she's all-powerful or all-knowing at all...She will overreach - with potions and in the next chapter, with the Patronus. This story will explore how she earned that moniker and became the Smartest Witch of Her Age, which we will see was quite a struggle.
Ok, I grant that thirteen may be a bit of a stretch – even for a prodigy – but think of Slughorn's offer as an investment. She's obviously very bright – he can tell – and will go on to do great things one day. He isn't expecting her to make significant advances in high-level potions now, he wants her commitment to helping with it over the future. Right now, she probably is focusing on reading up on the Wolfsbane potion, and looking through Lily's notes. Next, she'll move onto reading past modifications of it and thinking seriously about the potions theory and what new modifications can be made. Then she'd do experiments. It's a long long project – which Slughorn knows – and they probably won't make any discovery until much later on (her sixth/seventh year at least), if they make any at all. Slughorn is establishing an early relationship with someone who thinks will be very important in the future.
I always thought it was weird that Slughorn was not more interested in Hermione in canon, given that we are supposed to believe she's the smartest witch of her age.
Similar offers are made to the others because they are all exceptionally bright. Anthony's work builds on his DADA knowledge and interest. Padma's offer is only delayed by convenience; Slughorn manages to get some time alone with her the next day and make his offer.
[3] There was never really a satisfactory explanation in canon for why Hermione used the Time Turner 3rd year. What was so exceptional about 3rd year? How did she convince McGonagall she needed it? I provide an explanation here, that she is distraught at falling behind last year and is determined to exceed all of her peers this year. She nags Flitwick into submission, perhaps. Or, more likely, she is his favorite student and he sympathizes with her disappointment over being petrified, falling behind, and only making 2nd on The List.
[4] Hermione's parents are dentists. I think of dentists as middle class, possibly upper middle class depending on their clientele. The French Riviera is an extremely popular vacation destination for the British upper middle class. Think of the Grangers as being fashionable British for whom this is their primary vacation that year (they might get together with family at Christmas, but they won't go abroad) and who had saved up a lot of money to splurge at this time. Three weeks is not long for an European vacation. Europeans are not strict about serving wine, even to minors. Wine is an integral part of dining and cuisine in Europe, and even young children are served it by their parents – which makes them less likely to binge drink in college. For this section, I got to make fun use of the Wikitravel articles on Cannes, Nice and Monaco.
[5] Again, the Grangers are well-off but not rich like the Goldsteins. I think of the Goldsteins as a wealthy, Jewish family. (I think Goldstein might be a German-Jewish name.) So they have family in Germany and Tony's mother is from France.
[6] I always thought that part of the reason Hermione hung out with Harry and Ron was because they needed her, and she likes feeling needed. Especially on cool, history-changing adventures that Harry would often get into. This is not Hermione being obsessed with Harry's celebrity; we get a contrast with Ginny later on where we see what a true fan-girl looks like.
[7] I think of a representative to the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW) as like being a representative to the UN. A powerful position, which he earned by being a skilled diplomat and possibly by being fairly rich.
[8] Going off the idea that Germany took over France in WWII so Magical Germany under Grindelwald takes over Magical France. Hitler did terrible things; so did Grindelwald.
[9] Harry is used to underachieving because of the Dursleys. I believe he needed some sort of external motivation to cause him to concentrate on his academics. Proof of his mother's commitment to her studies and knowledge of her sacrifice for him would be more than sufficient, I think.
[9.5] Italian for "under voice," implying 'in soft tones.' From Wikipedia: "means intentionally lowering one's voice for emphasis. The speaker gives the impression of uttering involuntarily a truth which may surprise, shock, or offend."
[10] Is Ginny OCC? Well, Ginny in canon is not all that well-developed so its hard to say what's out of character when we don't even know what canon Ginny is really like.
But I think not. I think in the books Ginny asks Hermione if she likes Harry (right?). I know for sure that she asks for Hermione's help in getting Harry, and she tells Ginny to stop being all fan-girlish and just be herself, give up her crush. Without Hermione to advise her, Ginny may just get worse and worse. I really think that Ginny spends much of her young life thinking that she and Harry are somehow destined to be, he just doesn't realize it yet. She also obviously feels real emotion (its not all faked!), but it's pretty misdirected (as Hermione points out).
My Harry spends part of his summer at the Burrow, like in canon. He might talk a bit about Hermione and how he's been writing to her. As far as Ginny knows – and we know – Hermione is the only girl he has really extended contact with (he visited her in the Hospital Wing last year!) and certainly the only one with whom he corresponds.
Ginny views that as a real threat. At the same time, she wants to know what Hermione's secret is and wants her help, if possible. She's a Weasley; loud, brash and rude. She's the only girl in a family of six older brothers; she's spoiled and used to getting her way when she demands it. She's not used to tact or discretion, and has no idea how to react when Hermione refuses to give in – other than her childish attempt at manipulation (which sadly, probably works with her family). She doesn't realize that people don't have the obligation to help her and usually only act with some sort of motivation. Being possessed 1st year probably didn't help her emotional progression all that much.
Ginny's lack of tact really rubs Hermione the wrong way. I don't think Ginny is OCC with the character I established previously, a delusional little girl who follows Harry around, obsessed with fulfilling her fantasies. Hermione thinks its cute, but sad last year. Now that its translated to unfounded hostility against her, she's just pissed off.
[11] Some people might say Hermione here is being OCC because she's so harsh. My Hermione is a rational creature. She is not the super nice super self-sacrificing creature that some fanfic authors make her out to be.
She is determined and ambitious and cares about her desires more than Harry's, because she's more independent in this story. Padma and Anthony and Hermione support each other in their academic endeavors, rather than all supporting one character (Harry) in his adventures. That's why she's still debating what her relationship with Harry will really be, and if she really does want to be friends with him and what that means.
Hermione is consistently willing to do whatever necessary (here: Time Turner; in canon: stunning Neville, Marietta, etc.) to succeed. I don't think she's going to let a younger girl step all over her and cow in submission.
She's smart and she knows it and isn't afraid to show it. (This is probably even more true for canon Hermione, who just shows it inappropriately and too much. My Hermione has been tamed down a bit, but doesn't react well to personal hostility and irrational demands that are an affront to her intellect. Seriously, how can she think Hermione will fall for her act?)
Hermione's also all business and has no patience for whinging or slacking. Canon Hermione exhibits these traits, but to a lesser degree as they are curbed by her gradual tolerance for Harry and Ron's whinging and slacking. But she constantly pushes them to think rationally and to be diligent.
Here, Hermione's friends Anthony and Padma are also rational, albeit more emotionally developed or socially savvy than she is. But they reinforce her focus on the rational. They are also pureblood and generally very polite. She never develops the tolerance for the Weasley loudness, brashness and rudeness that she does in canon. So I think she is acting rationally. Ginny storms into her compartment, demands that her friends leave, demands that Hermione – who she has never met – answer her questions without even properly introducing herself, acts hostile and accusing, lies to her and attempts to manipulate her, is really annoying and acting irrationally.
Hermione can't stand it.
She doesn't like rude, demanding people and she hates people who are illogical. We saw that with her behavior toward Luna, who was never hostile or demanding but was illogical. Dealing with illogical people frustrates her rational mind to no end!
Hermione is not all that socially savvy so sure, she might have handled it better. But she gets really defensive because she is just gaining her self-confidence and establishing her position in the world, and gets annoyed when Ginny so rudely questions her about private matters. So I think she does get pretty emotional, but her response is ultimately founded on her disbelief of Ginny's delusional, lying and underhanded tactics.
Spoilers for next chapter: Hermione gets into a fight with her friends over the Time Turner and becomes disgruntled with Divination, there's a mysterious new DADA teacher, Harry tells Hermione about the escaped convict who's after him, and Hermione thinks more about her friendship with Harry.