Chapter 7

Hermione made her way down to breakfast the next day with two of the girls who shared a dormitory with her; Parvati and Lavender. They gossiped and talked non-stop which Hermione considered to be quite an achievement as they couldn't possibly have anything new to say after only being apart for 8 hours, and having both been asleep for those hours…but they had found something.
"Did you see…"
"The scar? Yes! Did…"
"I see his eyes…gorgeous!"
"And his hair! Sticky-uppy…"
"Yeah really cool…bet he's taken…"
"Nah! He doesn't even know anyone here…"
"What about those gingers?"
"Yeah…but they're blokes…haven't seen him with any girls…"
"I did on the train, when I walked past…he was with…"

The two girls turned to Hermione who had been walking silently behind them as they followed a fifth-year down to breakfast. They both had very cheesy smiles that were sort of forced, but Hermione didn't really care. She had enough on her mind without getting dragged into some childish man-hunt for the new most famous boy. She actually felt a little sorry for him. He seemed harmless and pretty gormless, and they were all too young to be dating anyway, she was here to learn, not to fall in love.

The great hall was relatively empty when they arrived. The three girls took seats near the end of the table and Hermione helped herself to two pieces of toast, a sausage and some scrambled eggs. The other two put their heads together and giggled and gossiped and glanced around them to make sure they weren't over heard. Hermione sighed and looked to the staff table. Some of the teachers were there including McGonagall, the short one with the white beard and the giant, but no Dumbledore. Maybe he ate in his room?

Hermione had nearly finished her food when Harry and Ron and one of Ron's brothers walked into the hall. Parvati and Lavender shrieked with laughter and excitement as they passed, attracting some very funny looks from the people in the steadily filling hall. McGonagall was heading down the table handing out pieces of parchment to each student with a few words with the older ones. Hermione finished her breakfast and looked to the sky: cloudy with a chance of rain, a little sun coming in from the east. McGonagall reached the trio and handed them what turned out to be their timetables.
"Ah yes, new students also require a map." She said thoughtfully, waving a wand and conjuring an elaborately folded piece of parchment. "Upper folds are upper floors…please do try to be on time." She handed them out.
"Actually professor, I don't think I need one, you see I read all about Hogwarts in Hogwarts: A history, and I learnt the map in the back of the book off by heart! So I probably won't get lost. And I will be on time to my lessons! I can't wait to start! You know I tried a few simple spells and they've all-"
"That is fantastic Miss Granger…I'm glad of your enthusiasm. I really have to go now, but I shall see you in Transfiguration."

Hermione smiled happily as she read through her timetable. First lesson was Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, followed by double Potions with Snape and then lunch. After lunch she had charms (Flitwick), and then Defence against the Dark arts (Quirrel). She said goodbye to her two new friends who weren't listening and hopped down from her bench to collect her bag and books for Transfiguration and Potions. It was quite a trek back up to the dormitories but Hermione didn't get lost once. She was careful that the staircases were stationary before she mounted them (because they often swung around to face a different direction as though Hogwarts was trying to lose you!) and arrived at the common room just as a group of third years were leaving to go to breakfast. She ran through the common room, eager to get to her lesson, then up the stairs into the dormitory. She stuffed her books into her bag and headed for the door…then stopped and pulled the books back out. Being the perfectionist that she was, she carefully piled the books onto the floor and organised them into size order before putting them into ther bag with the biggest at the back and her diary at the front. She rearranged them slightly, then smiled and headed back down the stairs and out onto the main staircase. Hermione was practically beaming when she arrived at her Transfiguration room, first of course, and waited patiently for the rest of the class to arrive. Within five minutes McGonagall turned up, eyebrows raised at the sight of Hermione standing in a one-person line outside the door.

"Well miss Granger, you are enthusiastic." She said happily before unlocking the door and leading the way into the cavernous classroom. Hermione gasped as she stepped through the door. It was exactly how she imagined it! There were cages of animals around the room and a large vulture perched on one of the rafters. Rows of desks lined the room and Hermione headed straight for the one nearest the front. McGonagall took a seat on a tier at the front and waited for the other students as Hermione took out her books and a quill, some ink, her wand and then sat arranging and rearranging them on the desk, first with the wand and quill next to each other on the left hand side of the books with the ink in the top right hand corner, then with the wand on the right (for easy access by her wand hand) and he quill across the top with the nib pointing to the ink pot, then with the lot clustered on top of the books but this looked ridiculously untidy so she hastily moved them before the professor could see her dis-organisation. She settled for the first arrangement and sat upright, studying the birds and lizards around the room.

Soon enough, the rest of the class made an appearance. They slowly filled the classroom, some looking excited, others apprehensive and others looked practically bored – like the blonde, pointy-faced boy who sat at the very back with his goons. It seemed they would be sharing this class with the Slytherins. Hermione faced the front, waiting for McGonagall to begin the lesson, but she seemed to be waiting for something. A frown burrowed in her forehead until she seemed to give up waiting.

"It seems that some members of our number will be joining us a little later than I had hoped." She said. Hermione gasped. Someone's late! For their Very First Lesson! Do they not care about making a good impression? "I shall begin the lesson, and let's hope they arrive soon. I know some of you are," she looked at Hermione, "…keen…to begin with some magic. However you could do some serious damage messing around with Transfiguration. I taught a boy a few years ago who inadvertently turned all of his fingers into chicken talons." The room cringed. "It took madam Pomfrey two days to reverse as I refused due to his stupidity. So let me warn you now, if I tell you not to do something then for your own sake don't because I won't be cleaning up after you. I wanted him to stay like that but Professor Dumbledore wouldn't allow it, nor would his parents though they did sympathise with me rather than him. So…open your text books to page four and copy out everything that moves. The stationary paragraphs should be used for revision purposes."

Hermione grabbed her quill and began to scribble as the words on the page ran off the top and new ones replaced them. She had to write very fast to keep up with them, but for the most part it was fun rather than strenuous work. She seemed to be the only person to think so however, but no one wanted to say anything out loud and the room was silent other than the scratching of quills and the splash of ink every now and then. McGonagall stood watching them for a moment, then went and sat on her stool. Hermione glanced up and was startled to see a brown tabby cat sitting where she had been before. Hermione grinned at the amazing use of transfiguration and continued her work.

About quarter of an hour into the lesson, the doors burst open and Harry and Ron stumbled in looking very flushed. They looked around the class and sighed in exasperation before Ron let out a kind of strangled laugh of relief.

"Can you imagine the look on old McGonagall's face if we were late?" he asked. Harry nodded, smiling as well before they started towards the only empty seats - next to Hermione. Hermione cringed, and glanced from Harry and Ron to the cat which leapt down from the stool, transforming back into professor McGonagall as it landed. The boys' faces drained of colour as she straightened up.

"That was bloody brilliant…" Ron said tentatively. Harry just gazed at her in shock.
"Thank you Mr Weasley, for that assessment. However, perhaps it would be more helpful if I were to turn the both of you into a pocket watch? That way one of you might be on time!"
"Sorry Professor…we got lost." Harry stuttered.
"Then perhaps a map? I trust you don't need one to find your seats?" she said, gesturing to the seats by Hermione and indicating that they were the only late comers. They bowed their heads slightly as they passed and took their seats by Hermione who quickly started to instruct them on everything McGonagall had said and told them what they should now be doing, showing them her work and pointing out the pages in the text book. For some reason they caught each other's eye and grinned. They didn't seem particularly grateful for her help, so at the end of the lesson she packed up then practically ran to potions.

But Potions wasn't nearly as fun as Transfiguration. Snape seemed very moody, and he had a particular dislike for Harry (though Harry wasn't paying attention and so it wasn't completely uncalled for). Hermione listened intently and raised her hand to answer the questions he put forward. He must have wanted someone else to answer though because he never picked her. The Slytherins were his obvious favourites, but then they were his house so she judged fair enough. After two hours of writing and lecturing, they headed for lunch. Hermione was very excited about Charms, and decided to sit with Harry and Ron despite their lack of interest in her assistance in Transfiguration.

Flitwick was a very excitable wizard, but very short with a long white beard. He had to stand on a pile of old text books to be seen over the desk. He had them practice saying the charm – Wingardium-Leviosa – and a swish and flick motion, however he wouldn't let them do any real magic either. Then Defence against the dark arts with professor Quirrel who was very jumpy and stuttered every other word. His lesson was very interesting, they learned about fire-bees from Mexico.

At the end of the day, after Hermione had had her dinner and was back in the common room, she took a seat at one of the round study tables by the windows and pulled out her books. This acquired her a good few funny looks from around the room but she didn't care. If she didn't start learning her work now, then when would she? There's just no point revising a few weeks before the exam! That's simply too late! So she sat quietly and read through her notes for the day until she was tired enough to go to bed.