Author's Note: Hey you guys :) another update, please keep up the wonderful reviews, i need the support cos it keeps me writing for you lot :D im gna be pretty busy for a while so i may not update for a bit but i'll try and do it as soon as poss. hopefully this chapter is nice and long and interesting :) and i wna leave more questions than answers!! so yea...review...love you all to peices my wonderful readers!!!!
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Hermione stood awkwardly next to the Headmaster as he sat down, blushing to her roots at the head of the whole hall. Even though the feast was under way most people felt they should spare her a glance and a whisper behind their hands.
"Go and sit down then, Miss Granger." Professor Dumbledore instructed.
"Where sir?" Her voice was croaky with embarrassment.
"I thought that was apparent Miss Granger?" He smiled mysteriously, leaving the question unanswered, and focused entirely on the food in front of him. Hermione felt her own stomach grumble. She scuttled down till she was on a level with the four tables and then hurriedly made her way to the space Harry and Ron had made for her.
"What did he say to you?" Harry asked, Ron leaning in keenly. Hermione even thought she caught Ginny's eyes flick up to watch her.
"He said if I felt I belonged here that I should stay, but that it wouldn't be easy," She hesitated, "He gave me this." She produced a letter, already opened, from her robe pocket and flashed it towards Harry then Ron.
"Hogwarts acceptance letter." Ron said automatically, "Little late don't you think?" he fired his question around Hermione at Harry, who nodded.
"But that's just it." Hermione said excitedly, "Look at the date." Harry followed the line of her finger to the date.
"September four years ago." He whispered, realisation hitting him and Ron at the same time,
"The same time as we received ours." Ron finished for him.
"That's my point. It's a total mystery, and he wouldn't tell me anything."
"Yeah he's a bit like that." Ron muttered, "Always speaks in Riddles if you ask me." Hermione sighed,
"Anyway," She hated mysteries, she'd rather change the subject. "Tell me about what goes on here. What's with the four tables?" Harry smiled.
"So there are four houses, right?"
"Yeah, some normal schools have them. So you get house points, and have competitions, like regular schools?"
"Something like that." Harry pointed to the four over sized hour glasses behind the teachers table, "Those are our house points and the competitions are mainly on broomsticks."
"Keeping up so far, just about." Hermione laughed somewhat nervously.
"There's some boring history behind all this but basically the four houses are Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. You are put into house according to what sort of person you are, you missed that bit earlier, all the first years get 'sorted'." He paused with a smile to check she was still following. "So Griffindor is us, anywhere you see the house colours Gold and Red, that's to do with Griffindor. We're supposed to be brave and chivalrous." Ron snorted into his drink,
"With the emphasis on supposed." He teased.
"Then there's Ravenclaw." Harry pointed over the table next to them to the third in the row, "Cho's in that house." He pointed her out, speaking animatedly to her friends, "But we're friends with Luna," He indicated a dreamy looking blonde girl sat by herself, "And Padma." A few seats along, watching Cho with an expression of distaste, was a very pretty Asian girl who noticed Harry's glance and gave a wave.
"Cho, Luna and Padma- Ravenclaw? Got it."
"People in Ravenclaw are very bright and sensible." Hermione felt an uncertainty, should I be sat over there, on the 'geeks' table. That was always where she'd sat at her normal school. "Then you've got Hufflepuff, they're even tempered, hard workers, always try- that sort of thing. We're friends with Terry Boot and Hannah Abbott." He waved his hand at a group of people and Hermione couldn't make out which couple he meant but nodded anyway. "The last house is Slytherin. There's an age-old history between our two houses, born rivals. They are cunning and ambitious, usually nasty with it; lots from their house go over to Voldemort." He whispered the word so that only Hermione could hear. He'd told her all about his history with Voldemort and she understand why he said it in hushed tones; in truth, it terrified her a little.
"Who's that staring at us?" She nodded in a casual way over her left shoulder. Harry followed her gaze, "Draco Malfoy he's a nasty piece of work, his dad's the worst- a death eater, Draco will be soon too." Hermione gulped as she took in his blonde, attractive figure. Ron must have caught her blush,
"Stay away from him if you've got any sense." He growled with warning. Hermione looked between the two boys and saw how serious they were; she nodded, though reluctantly.
"And that girl next to him, giving us major evils, she's his girlfriend?"
"His tag along," Harry informed her, "He doesn't care for her but she's a good accessory." Hermione nodded, instantly assessing the girl. She knew her type well: fashionable hair cut, layered in makeup, mean face and an expression that looked down on everyone- these girls were always someone's accessory.
-*-
Hermione panicked for a moment as everyone in the hall began to move around her. She grabbed to Harry's sleeve but he barely noticed, distracted by something else and slipped away from her grip. Hermione tried to follow but ended up spinning in a circle, confused by the melee of students flowing around her.
"It's ok, I've got you." Ron smiled taking her hand and pulling her through the pulsing crowd towards the door they had entered through. Hermione clung on gratefully. As they squeezed through the main doors and were propelled towards a large stair case Ron began to give her a guided tour,
"To your left and along is the secret passage to the kitchens, they're staffed by elves, then also the Hufflepuff common room and a couple of classrooms. To your right, there are more classrooms and the staircases to the dungeons." Hermione gulped apprehensively.
"Dungeons?" Ron looked nonplussed
"Yeah. They teach Potions down there and the Slytherin common room is there too. There are seven floors and four main towers. Griffindor in one tower, Ravenclaw in another, Astronomy in another and Divination in another." Hermione liked the sound of astronomy, it seemed that so far that was the only normal subject she had heard. "Oh and the staircases move." He added as an afterthought, pointing above his head into a maze of twisting and turning staircases.
"Oh I know." She replied automatically. Remembering her dream.
"How do you?" Ron threw her a quizzical look over his shoulder and she instantly turned red.
"Erm, dunno, guess Harry must have mentioned it." She tried to sound casual and Ron quickly lost interest.
-*-
"You made it." Harry smiled warmly and patted the sofa next to him. Hermione placed herself delicately on the edge of the cushions and was nearly thrown off as Ron dropped himself heavily in between her and Harry. "Formal introductions to the gang." Harry grinned. "The boys from our Dorm." A slightly stout, shy looking boy raised a hand,
"Neville," Hermione nodded and smiled.
"Seamus, all yours honey." A cute, dark haired boy with a broad Irish accent winked at her and Hermione giggled,
"Delighted." She smiled.
"Yo! Dean." The dark skinned boy sat next to them nodded his head- whether in approval or greeting Hermione had no idea, but she offered a smile in return.
"And the girls, who you'll be sharing a dormitory with." Ginny grunted.
"Do we have to?" She rolled her eyes. Clearly sensing tension, yet another stunning Asian girl stuck out her hand for Hermione to shake.
"Parvati Patil." Hermione did a double take,
"Uncanny isn't it." Ron joked in her ear,
"You're, um, Padma's twin?" Parvati nodded.
"Lavender Brown." A girl with blonde curly hair, sat very close to Ginny, gave her a once over with a reserved smile. Hermione knew instantly that these girls wouldn't be easily won. She was about to think of something she could say to clear the air when Fred and George appeared, taking the job from her hands.
"How's the newbie?"
"You settling in good Granger?" She smiled to each in turn.
"Great thanks…yeah, really great." In she felt truly at home.
-*-
Hermione closed the heavy, main doors behind her, cringing as she heard them creak. She moved across the darkened grounds, somehow knowing the way, as she always seemed to, and walked without fear into the scariest looking forest she'd ever seen. The trees were dense and she could barely see, but she didn't need to worry about getting lost or hurt- her dream would take her there and back. She reached a clearing and a hooded figure, back towards her, welcomed her,
"My dearest Hermione, how are you?"
"Should I know you?" It appeared not to hear her. Back still turned it began to pace and Hermione felt curious.
"I've been waiting for you, and there are some things I will need you to do. But less of that now, the contact will present himself and the right time and you will do as he says. You understand me Hermione?" She nodded, knowing by instinct he could see her. His voice sent shivers down her spine.
"Wait for your contact to present themselves, help them with our task, and then return to you?" She felt as though someone else had control of her voice, she barely knew the words she spoke before they were out of her mouth, let alone did she know what they meant.
"That's right my sweet. But for now you run along back to bed before you're caught."
-*-
Hermione toyed nervously with her breakfast. Ron leant across from his seat next to Lavender and gave her arm a quick squeeze. You'll be fine. His face told her. Thanks. Her eyes replied gratefully.
"You wanted to know about the teachers yeah?" She was glad it was Harry to bring up her concerns from the previous night.
"Yes please!" She nodded fervently.
"Take a guess at what they teach." Harry looked playfully at her. Hermione was already getting used to his guessing games.
"Well the little tubby one with the straw sticking out of her clothes has to teach, like some form of gardening." She paused for a moment, "You call the Herbology here." He nodded happily. "The one with the enormous dark nails and the stars on her hat has to be Astronomy."
"Yeah, and the dippy looking one next to her with the owl-glasses is Professor Trelawny, she takes Divination class."
"Could have guessed that." Hermione giggled. "Well Dumbledore is obvious. That man must be Hagrid- you described him to me, said he taught Care of Magical Creatures? And then the scary looking one giving us the eye, what does he teach?"
"Potions." Harry muttered, "Head Of Slytherin house. And next to him is our head of house. Be warned she's terrifying but very fair and incredibly nice if you're on her right side. Her name's professor McGonagall." Harry glanced sidelong at her and seemed to read her mind. "I know she doesn't look like anything special but she's fairly formidable, and her and Dumbledore are very close, he trusts her totally."
"You seem pretty close to Dumbledore." Hermione pointed out. Causing a flash of tension to cross Ginny's face,
"I- erm- I guess I am, he's sort of like a replacement dad to me I guess." The end of Harry's sentence trailed off and Ginny laid a hand on his arm; Hermione now understood the 'look'.
"Sorry." She whispered.
-*-
"Are you going to try then Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall towered over her as she twisted her wand nervously between her fingers, looking down at the edge of her wooden bench, "Well?" The whole class was looking at her. The task: to transfigure an hourglass into a convincing looking owl (of course it could never be a real one). In her head Hermione shrunk back and said no, I think I'll just leave it thanks, I'm really sure how to use this wand yet. "Trust in yourself." The Professor seemed to sense what she was thinking.
"Ok," She whispered uncertainly, well aware of the mixture of nervousness and scepticism present in the classroom. She focused on her wand, on the feeling of control that itched through her fingers, on turning the inanimate hourglass into a graceful creature of night and flight. She was about to utter the words, not even sure she could pronounce them right when…poof.
The hourglass became owl like in an instant, no incantation required. It ruffled its wings and the class looked suitable impressed- then incredibly impressed. The owl took off. It flew one whole circuit of the classroom, uttering its soft coo and then landing back on Hermione's desk and blinked benignly up at her. Professor McGonagall regained her power of speech,
"Upon my word." She shook her head,
"Was that me?" Hermione stuttered, astounded.
"Bloody hell."
"I think Mr Weasley summed it up accurately and succinctly enough for us all." Hermione couldn't help but giggle, "Quite extraordinary…quite, quite remarkable."
After class Hermione enjoyed being the centre of attention as they milled through the corridor.
"That was amazing."
"And you're like a first year, we couldn't have done that back then."
"I can't do that now." Hermione looked sympathetically at Neville.
"Seriously it was the best transfiguration in the whole class all lesson, you're a total natural."
"You must be a pretty powerful witch Mione," Harry told her softly.
"Really?" He nodded,
"Really." Hermione glowed in his compliment. Then there was a derisive snort from behind. Hermione turned, she hadn't noticed Ginny approach.
"Please! I'll have to see that before I believe it." Mione sighed, would she ever win Ginny over?