Thank you for your reviews. I really appreciate them – even ones that aren't very nice to read because it helps me to improve this story. You are all lovely.
When Hermione heard students' voices as they begun to enter the Great Hall for dinner, she quickly slid onto the bench at Gryffindor table. She scrubbed at her face with her rough sleeve. Pupils sat down in dribs and drabs and she was quickly found by Eleanor. The small girl rushed over to her friend and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder.
"Hermione, where have you been all this while?" Her eyes brimmed with genuine concern.
"Oh, I just wanted to talk to Professor Gryffindor about my patronus." Hermione mumbled, hoping it was clear that she didn't want to talk about it.
"It was such a hard lesson, was it not? I had barely created a wisp when he dismissed us."
"Well. I couldn't do it at all." She flinched at how bitter her voice sounded and reprimanded herself. It's not Eleanor's fault.
"Perhaps the memory you were using was not strong enough?" she suggested helpfully.
"It-it should have been. It's the happiest moment of my life. I was with my, well my best friend or one of them at least."
Eleanor nodded thoughtfully. "Well maybe it was not the memory, but your mood."
An irritable laugh burst out Hermione's lips. "Yes, you could well be right."
The other girl looked at her patiently and began dolling chicken casserole and cabbage on her plate. Without asking, she served Hermione a portion about twice the size of her own.
"You need it, have you seen how slender you are?" She defended at Hermione's incredulous look. She waited until Hermione had eaten half of her casserole and then tentatively enquired about her day. Hermione sighed and finished chewing her dumpling.
"We had flying first thing; I got a detention off Professor Slytherin; I spilt ink over my Healing homework and I'm pretty sure Professor Gryffindor thinks I'm a world class idiot – oh and I had a headache." She reeled off, stabbing a piece of cabbage viciously with her fork.
"I think you should add that you murdered a vegetable." Eleanor suggested solemnly, and despite herself, Hermione found herself chuckling, if a little tearfully.
"Truthfully Hermione, it sounds like you have experienced an awful day, but things are not so bad. You still have time to finish your essay, Professor Gryffindor definitely does not think you are a fool and I- well if you like- I could help you with flying. Only if you would like to though." She added hurriedly.
Hermione considered her friend for a long while before she managed to choke back her pride.
"That would be good, Eleanor, thank you." She said stiffly.
Eleanor looked decidedly relived.
"Hermione?"
She looked up at the sound of her name to see a skinny boy towering over her.
"Hello Thomas."
"Professor Ravenclaw requested that I give you this." He held out a folded piece of parchment.
Hermione took it, and briefly scanned the contents. With a groan, she stood up. Thomas' eyes brightened as the casserole on the table was replaced by copious apple pies and took his place next to Eleanor immediately.
"See you in the common room, Eleanor – thanks Thomas."
The pair barely acknowledged her departure, thought Hermione bemusedly. She looked back as she went through the huge doors. Thomas was busy serving Eleanor a generous portion of pie and the petite Gryffindor was talking animatedly about something. Hermione smiled to herself and made a mental note to talk to Thomas about the upcoming ball.
She rapped smartly on Professor Ravenclaw's door and waited impatiently for the woman to answer. Eventually the door swung open and Hermione skipped to one side to allow Professor Hufflepuff to get out. The normally cheerful Household Charms mistress looked worried. She embraced her fellow founder tightly and whispered something in her ear that Hermione couldn't hear before bustling off down the corridor.
"Come in Miss Granger, do sit down."
Hermione gingerly perched in the same chair she had after first meeting the Ravenclaw founder.
"Is everything okay, Professor?" She asked politely.
"I hear you have received a detention from Professor Slytherin?" The woman's eyes, despite being narrowed, still managed to appear piercing.
"Yes."
"For what reason?"
"I suppose I was impertinent." Hermione said darkly.
"That will be the Gryffindor traits within you." The Ravenclaw lady sighed and Hermione noticed the shadows lining her eyes and the sickly pallor to her cheeks for the first time.
Half out of habit, she checked the moon phase – crescent, waxing. Not a werewolf then, she mused.
"I have been meaning to talk to you anyway, Miss Granger. You joined us a bare half moon ago, yet you have had quite an impact on the Professors – us founders especially. Did you know you have received full marks on every essay thus far? Professor Finch tells me your potions are regularly superior to most of the class too."
Hermione struggled to hide her delight, shuffling forwards so far in her chair that she very nearly fell off. Full marks! Professor Ravenclaw took a moment to smile in what was obviously intended to be a kind way, but came out looking pained.
"To be sincere, Miss Granger, I am not sure there is much we can still teach you at Hogwarts…I am sure you will agree?"
Hermione flustered, began to talk at a fast pace.
"But you can't! I have no where else to go and no money. You can't make me leave professor, please!" She beseeched desperately. "I'm using the library for my research as well, I need the books."
The Professor held up a pale hand in her well known, infuriating gesture and Hermione ignored her to carry on.
"Please professor, just let me finish the year. I'll, I'll apologise to Professor Slytherin if you want me to. Just please don't make me leave Hogwarts, you can't."
"Hermione!" The lady eventually managed to interrupt. "Do be quiet and listen for a moment. We are not suggesting you leave. Heavens above child, we would not waste an agile mind such as yours. I am merely suggesting that you may like to sit your NEWTs in January, rather than the summer."
Hermione relaxed her vice-like grip on the carved arm of the chair a little, but not the tension in her face.
"But where would I go afterwards?" She asked sceptically. Rowena Ravenclaw's eyes gleamed.
"You would become my assistant. You would be responsible for teaching lower years Transfiguration, although having seen you with some of you fellow students I am sure you would be capable with older students as well. I would also require your aid for my personal studies." She paused. "Having researched time travel well, I was inclined to dismiss time travel as a dream. Your mere presence, Hermione, forces me to reconsider. Of course, if we were to reconcile a way…if it were possible…then I would do my utmost to return you to your time. I know how much it means to you."
She smiled in her slightly awkward way. Hermione's heart felt so light, that it almost filled her mouth. She could scarcely believe it.
"Professor – I would love to do this!" Her eyes shone and were wide with excitement. To be given an opportunity to work closely with Rowena Ravenclaw herself, and find a way back to Ron and Harry (for Hermione was sure that she would) in the process, was more than she could have hoped for.
"My heart is glad!" The professor exclaimed and Hermione was sure she looked pleased. "You will of course be paid. A sum of one and twenty Galleons a season. Your accommodation and food will be provided. On your appointment you will be allocated a bed chamber and a study for your personal use."
Hermione felt like she could fly around the room with happiness.
"And the other founders have agreed to this?" She probed.
"Why yes, of course. They are all pleased by the prospect. As it happens, it was the suggestion of Professor Gryffindor that prompted me to ask you. He thinks most highly of you. I would really have loved to have witnessed you placing a jigging jinx on him." She added, her eyes dancing with merriment. "You will have to oblige me sometime."
Hermione's cheeks flamed at her professor's gentle teasing and mumbled something about needing to finish her Healing essay. Half way to the door, she had a sudden alarming thought.
"Professor!"
"Yes, Hermione?"
"What happens if I fail all my NEWTs?!"
"So you are to be a professor Hermione, that is most excellent news! You will be a blessing to all those whom you teach."
Hermione quirked an eyebrow, but Eleanor's face was warm and genuine.
"Thank you Eleanor." She said nervously. "But I need to pass my NEWTs first."
"Hermione, do not be ridiculous! You will pass with ease."
"You sound like Professor Ravenclaw." Hermione said glumly.
"Indeed. Now stop trying to distract me and call that broomstick to your hand."
The girl's eyes glinted dangerously and Hermione supressed a grumble. This girl is a regular Oliver Wood. It was shortly after the late winter dawn, and the friends had snuck out before breakfast to practise Hermione's dubious flying skills. Their breath made the air around then to puff like a steam train and Hermione would have much sooner have been curled up by a fire in the Gryffindor common room. It was only the thought of her detention later that made her rub some feeling back into her hands before placing one over the broom.
"Up?" She pleaded.
"Hermione, no! You do not ask the broom, you command it. Think of it as a summoning charm and you simply must be assertive!"
Hermione considered this for a while. She had begged the broom and shouted at it, had she ever commanded it? It was worth a try, she supposed. Gathering every bossy thread in her being, she stuck her hand obstinately back over the broom and commanded it.
"Up."
The broom flew to her like iron to a magnet and she was so surprised that she fumbled and dropped it. Eleanor clapped delightedly.
"Yes Hermione! Again!"
"Up."
This time, to Hermione's pride, she managed to retain her grasp on the polished wood. Eleanor grinned and called her own broom to her, before sliding on to it.
"The trick is to tuck your ankle round the end, it acts as an anchor." She modelled this beautifully, her broom hovering obediently for her. Hermione took a few attempts but eventually managed to imitate Eleanor's position, if somewhat less elegantly. Eleanor spent an hour coaching Hermione until she felt reasonably secure mounting and dismounting a broom. Flying was still a problem, but she was at least able to get on and off. Whilst Hermione practised her dismount, Eleanor took the opportunity to soar around the empty Quidditch pitch. Hermione stopped to watch her in amazement. The girl wove in and out of the hoops deftly and instinctively leaned to counter the wind. Ron was definitely stronger, and Harry was probably slightly faster, but Hermione was sure both would envy Eleanor's agility.
Hermione supressed a twinge of jealousy as the girl gracefully landed and dismounted in one fluid motion.
"Eleanor – that was incredible! I had no idea you could fly that well."
The girl laughed erratically, her cheeks flushed from the wind.
"I grew up on a farm with only a brother and an owl for company, Hermione. What were you expecting?"
"Does Thomas know?" Hermione prompted sneakily.
Eleanor's cheeks seemed to glow even brighter and Hermione laughed. They began heading towards the castle, intending to get some breakfast before their first class. Eleanor seemed to be struggling with herself. She kept opening her mouth and then shutting it abruptly. Hermione waited patiently.
"He asked me." Eleanor eventually blurted out. "Thomas, to the ball."
"I should hope so too!"
Please review; let me know what you think of Hermione becoming a teacher. This was a bit of a strange chapter but I felt like Hermione needed to have a good day for once. The next chapter will be the ball scene! I'm very excited about it. I've basically had it in my head from Chapter 2. :D