"What's had you spaced out before our vacation?" Cho asked worriedly while Daphne looked at the girl expectantly and Harry looked confused, the four making their way to the music room.
Once they were settled and the door closed shut, Hermione turned to them and tried to mouth her worry silently before speaking.
"I… found out some interesting things thanks to my aura gift, and finding out what's on the third floor's corridor by accident."
"Go on."
"There's something hidden there and protected under a trap door guarded by a Cerberus-"
"What!?" Cho squeaked in disbelief and Daphne wore a shocked expression. Harry wasn't quite sure what it was until Cho told him it was a huge three headed dog, making him nod and then choke on his own spit.
"Are you okay?" and "How are you still alive" were asked simultaneously to which she shrugged before resuming.
"It was guarding the philosopher's stone that can grant its user immortality. Look at this article here." She took out her book and let them read the entry, the three convinced of its power after seeing the Flamels were alive and kicking after half a millennium.
"The bad part is, I think Quirell is after it."
"Quirell!? Why? How did you know!?" Daphne and Harry asked, becoming more agitated.
"The man's afraid of his own shadow!" Cho nearly yelled, not buying the story altogether.
"His aura showed it, and I don't know why…"
'I can't… won't tell them about Voldemort… not until I'm sure and the stone is really safe…'
"I know this is incredibly hard to believe…"
"You don't say…" Cho grumbled while Harry and Daphne refrained from talking.
"Hermione, even if it's true, don't you think the adults can handle it?" Daphne tried to soothe the brunette and placed a hand on her shoulder, but the brunette shied away, frowning and hurt. This in turn made Daphne back away a step surprised and saddened.
"You shouldn't trust adults. A lot of them are horrible people." She grit out glaring at the ground and looked back up at her three surprised friends, though Harry wholeheartedly nodded in agreement to her odd statement.
"I'll show you what's down there, then you'll see I wasn't lying." The three reluctantly nodded after mulling over her proposal.
"Let's head down there now, then. It's a Saturday and we don't have any classes anyway."
They agreed and made to exit the door, though Hermione went back to take her violin case with her.
"Why are you taking that with you?"
"Hagrid told me music makes it sleep."
"He's the gatekeeper isn't he?"
She nodded and Harry smiled at the memory of the large bearded jolly man that introduced him to the magical world and got him Hedwig.
"Are you sure we won't get caught?"
"Don't worry." She cast a silencing spell on all their feet, and released Natsu, kneeling to her level and instructing the placid cat to distract Filch if he or his mangy cat came this way. With a nod and a lick of her hand, she slunk away like a predator hunting its afternoon snack while the four ventured further into the darkness. After a while they used 'lumos' to brighten their surroundings and arrived to a worn wooden door. With a whispered Alohamora, Cho unlocked the door while Hermione unpacked her violin. Once they stepped in and froze like deer in headlights at the growling beast, she immediately began to play Havanaise opus 83 by Camille Saint-Saëns.
The three were quickly soothed as their fear of the beast took a back seat. They then had the pleasure of watching the fearsome hound lulled to sleep, the fiddling brunette practically waltzing towards the dog and getting so close Daphne and Cho had the urge to pull her away from there immediately. As if reading their thoughts, she turned back whilst playing and winked cheekily, skipping closer to the dog at the 5th minute of her melody where the notes jumped like she did.
"Hermione what are you doing? Come back!" Daphne whispered and ran to the reckless brunette despite the mounting fear of the black Cerberus.
Seeing the beast finally succumbed to sleep, she pointed to the trap door with her foot, not ceasing her playing.
"Okay we believe you, you were telling the truth, can we please get out now!?" Cho hysterically squeaked out as the dog snorted and revealed three sets of enormous and sharp fangs.
"Oh alright." She ended the music before she got to the trills and double stops that would inevitably wake the beast instead of soothing him.
Both girls looped an arm each and practically carried her out of there sprinting while Harry exited last to shut the door behind them.
Without stopping to hear irritated growls from inside, the raven haired boy grabbed Hermione's violin case and caught up with the trio in their frenzy sprint still dragging a surprised and winded violinist in between them.
When they finally exited the hall and saw Natsu standing guard they stopped, panting heavily with hands to their chests. Meanwhile Hermione casually packed away her violin not the least bit tired as they carried her most of the way without realizing it.
"Was…that…necessary?" Daphne, leaning tiredly against the wall faintly glared at Hermione.
"You believe me now?" Hermione asked in a saccharine tone, smiling sweetly. To the rest, it was the devil's smile.
"Y-yes." Cho muttered before they made their way back up to the music room to practice. Halfway there, the Asian witch started to giggle, then turning into loud laughter that was contagious enough to have the others join her. It was a good day for the quartet.
"Try again Miss Granger."
"Why must I do this?"
"You need to be able to lock and unlock memories through your own will; unfortunately, a large part of your memories are locked away unconsciously. Don't understand me wrong, dear, you're excelling at occlumency and legilimency but it is necessary you learn this to continue further."
"But I don't want to…" She looked down sullenly, not bothering to lie to her mind training professor- she knew he'd be good enough to understand her intentions from body language alone. She stubbornly refused to admit she was starting to trust the old man, too.
"Of course you don't. You wouldn't have locked them away otherwise, yes?" He replied knowingly and smiled reassuringly. Still, there was a sad gleam in his twinkling eyes- maybe pity or sympathy. She hoped for the latter.
"…Fine, but I don't want to start now. I'm good enough right?" She pleaded and Albus sighed sadly before straightening up.
"Yes you are, very much so. I believe you'd impress even Severus with your skills."
"Professor Snape?"
"Indeed, he's dabbled and nearly mastered the mind arts. Perhaps when you're ready I'll have you practice with him once."
She nodded curiously before both resumed their regular lessons.
Dumbledore cast legilimens and entered the prepared girl's mind.
Moments later he hummed in satisfaction.
"Very good Miss Granger, your walls are very thick and are quite layered. Let's see how many I'll break through…"
"What's this?" The old man chuckled heartily at her defense system.
"In all my years of teaching I've never seen a defense made of an avalanche of notes and violin bows rushing to stab me before… Now that I look closely, some walls are shaped like music sheets…" He prodded at the barriers fascinated and despite the effort to push away the walls found it very difficult to achieve so. By the time he got out, the poor girl was sweating and panting, clutching her head in pain.
"Did you have to stay so long…?"
"I'm afraid so- you did wonderfully Miss Granger, be proud of that. But never forget Voldemort will not be as merciful if he suspects anything." His heavy tone sobered her and she nodded briefly, getting out of the plush burgundy chair she usually occupied during their lessons for several weeks. During that time she even found a friend in Fawkes the phoenix and waved at him with a tiny grin, to which the majestic bird melodiously bade her goodbye.
"Until next time, dear." Dumbledore said merrily while the girl shut the door behind her, and sighed in relief and satisfaction; it was the first time since the start of their lessons that the old wizard mentioned Voldemort and confirmed her fear, but also trusted the strength of her mental barriers enough to resist an onslaught from the dark wizard or his follower Quirell, if the need ever came to be.
She hoped it wouldn't.
The Cerberus incident and sharing the stone's secret brought them closer together, so they often spent their free time in the room of requirements after willing it to look like a mix of their three common rooms. Somehow the three colors blended nicely on the walls and elegant yet soft and comfortable furniture, surrounding a cozy fireplace well lit and warming the room.
"How are your lessons with the headmaster going?" Harry ask while finishing up his transfiguration essay due tomorrow- Hermione finished it days ago and was busy reading the aura book Dumbledore gave her at the beginning of the year.
"Pretty well, I was wondering if you guys wanted me to help you practice it?" She muttered and looked at the inquisitive three others from her bean chair.
"Isn't it difficult?" Cho asked hesitantly, the other two still staring at the brunette.
"Sure, but you're all capable of it, I'm sure. It's pretty useful too…"
"Since we're keeping a pretty big secret after all." Daphne completed the sentence and nodded in agreement.
"Agreed then. Thanks for the proposal Hermione." Harry grinned while wiping off the ink on his hands with a handkerchief Cho handed him and asked Hermione to proof read it for him, to which she wordlessly agreed.
"Don't thank me till I'm done." She teased and returned to her reading, while Daphne and Cho lapsed into a comfortable conversation of their progress on their music.
Minutes later, Hermione piped up about finding a piece the quartet can play. They brightened up and questioned her curiously, while she replied with "You'll have to read it from my mind to guess." Needless to say they groaned and Daphne chucked a pillow to her face.
Hermione was lounging in the Gryffindor common room reading up on some runes from that time she found the book in the library, and she occasionally looked up to observe her surroundings. Currently, Parvati and Lavender were gossiping in their usual fashion despite their opened potions books Hermione lent them for an essay. Still, the sheer amount of information they held on the school populace for mere first years was impressive, to say the least, and earned the quiet brunette's respect.
A few steps from the fireplace, Fred and George were probably plotting revenge against peeves after the Poltergeist managed to drop water balloons on students during the freezing winter weather and plant the blame on them. It ought to be fun to watch how that plays out.
To the other side of the room, Shamus and Dean were playing cards, and judging by Dean's smug face and Shamus's put out one, the dark skinned Gryffindor was winning. She was half surprised not to see Shamus blowing anything up yet.
Finally, to her right was a particular scene, one several students found interesting as they gathered to watch it; Ron and Cho were facing off in a brutal game of wizard chess with debris and destroyed pieces flying across the board. Both were intensely focused on their match they rarely blinked and Hermione was half worried they stopped breathing.
Some were rooting for Ron while others, surprised someone was able to match the chess savant, rooted for Cho. The Ravenclaw was welcome in their common room after they found out she was Hermione's friend.
Several minutes later, she stood up and bookmarked her page, walking to inspect the intense match closer and found it was coming to an end, as most pieces were already decimated.
With sweat trickling down her forehead, Cho moved her king forward with a trembling hand and sighed, satisfied with her choice.
That is, until Ron smirked demonically and chuckled ominously, sending shivers through the Asian and some students while Hermione wondered where the dramatic back light came from. He smoothly shifted his knight and placed it over the king, winning the game.
"Checkmate."
Cho's face froze in a blank mask while everyone else dispersed after excited cheering and tactics discussions. A tear escaped from her eye and Hermione awkwardly patted the girl's back while looking to Ron for help. He, of course, shrugged helplessly and showed he'd think of something to cheer her up.
"There, there…?"
Ron looked at her exasperatedly while Hermione frowned in light distress and mouthed 'I'm terrible at this!'
'Try harder!'
She scowled at him and turned back to the upset Asian.
"It's okay to lose to Ron in this game, really. He's ridiculously good, no one's beaten him."
"But I'm a Ravenclaw, I'm supposed to be the best at knowledge!" She yelled as Hermione placed her hands on her shoulders to placate her.
"Yeah but being a Ravenclaw isn't your only defining trait. Daphne's nice right?"
"Yeah Right." Ron scoffed while Hermione shut him up with a glare.
"Yeah, especially to you." Cho shrugged still a little upset.
"And I'm a Gryffindor! If all she had were her Slytherin traits, she wouldn't be nice, just cunning."
"I guess you're right… when did you talk so much?" She teased the brunette, who flinched and then blushed.
'That's a weird reaction'
"I'm kidding, it's nice to hear your voice."
"Yeah, I agree with her." Ron smiled, innocently complimenting her, which only served to redden her further.
"Cho, I could help you out with chess if you help me with my homework. Help, not do it for me; Mum's pissed off I'm failing my classes…" He blurted out and frowned in determination.
Cho turned to him, and after several moments considering it, nodded with a smirk and shook hands with him to seal the deal, both parties satisfied. Cho wasn't done with Hermione though, as she glanced the brunette getting off the couch from the corner of her vision.
"Thanks, Hermione." She pulled the girl back by her huge robe sleeves and hugged her, the latter's head snuggled under Cho's.
Slowly, as if experimenting, she wrapped her own arms around the Ravenclaw and snuggled into the embrace, warm and happy she managed to do it right, based on Cho's little giggle.
"Aw you're so adorable!"
"Group hug!" The chuckling twins swooped in and wrapped the two giggling girls in their own patented Weasely hug, with Ron joining after a heartbeat, much to Cho's glee and Hermione's panicking.
"Too much love! Need air…" She whimpered and fake wheezed, much to the amusement of the spectators.
"Did I miss anything?" The cluster of red brown and black haired still holding each other turned to the common room's entrance and blinked owlishly at Neville who just came back from his extra Herbology lesson.
"Hmm, that's impressive, you've added your friends' instruments in your mental defenses, and I see you like setting up traps very much." Albus Dumbledore mildly flinched at one of the traps he set off and shook it off before retracting and beaming proudly at the first apprentice he's taken on in decades.
"Even Voldemort himself will be having a hard time getting anything out of you. I believe, Miss Granger, you are finally prepared to practice legilimency."
A tired smile stretched across her face and she yawned, tired from the effort. She stayed up late practicing the violin for the upcoming summer concert with her three friends. She also helped them get the hang of legilimency and occlumency, ultimately providing her with extra practice. On top of all this, she also made sure to keep up with her written homework and handing in her essays in time, despite some being slightly rushed nowadays.
"You've been spreading yourself thin haven't you? Allow me to get us some good old soothing green tea, yes?"
She hummed in thought and finally nodded, backing further into the soft couch and sighed tiredly. Natsu who was on the shelve making funny expressions at the amused sorting hat hopped back down and onto her owner's lap, allowing the slender fingers to roam across her raven fur and pet her affectionately- it was therapeutic for both cat and human.
"Excellent! Shall your companion join us as well?"
"No, she ate before coming here. Oh, and she probably swallowed some of your sherbet lemons when you weren't looking." Hermione dead panned as Dumbledore smirked wryly.
"I'm sure she did. Excuse me for a moment." She nodded and decided she'd go over her most recent charms essay. She knew the professor liked to push her, as he placed higher standards for her paper. She usually wasn't one to disappoint either, and duly made sure she wrote well.
Once Dumbledore came back with two hot cups of tea, the pair sipped the concoction in amicable silence. After a couple of sips, Hermione carefully set her teapot on its adjacent levitating plate.
"Headmaster?"
"Hmm?"
"When do you think Quirell will make his move?"
"Whenever the castle is least safe. I believe he's already prepared by now. Only two months are left until the end of the school year after all."
"So whenever you're not here?"
"Probably, but you shouldn't underestimate the teachers, they are more than capable-"
"You never told them what the danger is. How would they act then?" She tilted her head questioningly, and watched Dumbledore struggle to word a proper answer.
"Well it's for the greater good they don't know-"
"…What good will ignorance do?" She frowned at the old man who turned intrigued instead of nervous.
'Are you really 11 years old, Hermione Granger…?'
"You need not worry Miss Granger, Voldemort will not succeed, even in my absence, if it were to occur in the near future."
'Honestly, he switched gears faster than a drag racer.' Hermione rolled her eyes at his shiftiness and 'I know better than thou' behavior she found was the norm with him, but didn't find it any less aggravating.
"Thank you for the tea headmaster. I'll be going now."
"Any time Miss Granger, rest well for our next lesson, and do stay out of trouble." She nodded and feigned ignorance at what his last words meant.
'Stay out of this.'
'Maybe I'll get involved just to piss him off.' She smirked to herself as she closed the door and chuckled at Natsu's happy mewl after the sneaky cat nabbed more of the man's precious lemon drops. Her shared common room will be smelling like lemon tonight.
