Albus walked in front if the two witches, his long strides carrying him to the Great Hall quickly and entered a good five minutes before them. He thought that is might be easier on Hermione if she saw a friendly face. Hermione, who had a death grip on Minerva's hand, slowed down when the approached the doors.
Crouching down in front of her, Minerva gently placed her hands on Hermione's shoulders, "It's going to be okay, I promise." Hermione nodded, but still grasped Minerva's hand tightly. "Ready?"
"No, but let's go in there." Hermione tightly stated.
When they got closer to the doors, they opened by themselves.
Minerva hearing Hermione whispering to herself, "Relax, breathe, you can do this, just relax." squeezed her hand. Hermione looked at her gratefully.
Still when the professor all looked in their direction, Hermione ducked behind Minerva and held tightly to her robe.
"Who's that you got behind you, Minerva?" Poppy asked, "I didn't think any student stayed behind this year."
"None did." Severus drawled.
"This is Hermione." Minerva beamed, "Do you think you can say hello?"
Hermione peeked her head out from behind Minerva and squeaked, "H-h-hi."
"Hi there little one." Hooch smiled at her, "You Hermione?" at Hermione's skittish nod she continued. "My name is Rolanda Hooch; I am the flying instructor and Quidditch referee. Do you think you'll play Quidditch?"
Hermione vigorously shook her head.
"That's too bad; with your size I think you'd be a good Seeker. What House are you in?" Hooch asked, trying to engage the young witch into a conversation.
"I-I-I'm n-not in an-an-any H-h-house, Miss." Hermione stuttered as she stared at the floor.
"How old are you dear?" Poppy asked.
"N-n-nine."
"Nine!" Hagrid bellowed, "Wha' are ya doin' 'ere then?"
When Hagrid bellowed, Hermione cowered behind Minerva and grasped her robe with both hands.
Minerva tried to get Hermione out from behind her, to no avail. "Hermione!" Minerva finally sighed, "Hagrid will not hurt you, he is just a big, loud teddy bear."
Hagrid saw that he had scared her, tried to reassure the little witch, "It's alright, Hermione. Me name's Hagrid an' I am the Grounds Keeper here."
Hermione fearfully looked at him, "Wh-what did I-I-I do to u-u-ups-set you?"
"What?" Hagrid asked.
Minerva chuckled, "I think he was just surprised that you are here, being as young as you are."
"Yes, why is she here, Minerva?" Severus drawled.
"I adopted her." Minerva smiled at him, "Hermione that is Severus Snape, he teaches potions."
"How do you do, sir?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, such manners, I am impressed." Snape smiled, "My question for you is, why did Minerva adopt you?"
"My parents were not very nice." Hermione murmured.
Minerva snorted, "That is an understatement."
"Oh you poor thing." Poppy cooed, "My name is Poppy and I am the Healer here at Hogwarts."
"Nice to meet you." Hermione had crept out from behind Minerva but still held tightly her hand.
A woman with a pinched face introduced herself next, "My name is Madam Pince and I am the librarian here. You may look at the books, but if you…"
"Pince!" Minerva interrupted with a hiss, "The end to that sentence means something very different to Hermione than it does to you. You needn't worry about her ruining any of your precious books." Hermione looked at Minerva confused. The elder witch sighed, "When any of the teachers here say punished, it usually means some sort of cleaning."
Hermione snorted, "That's not a punishment."
"Which is why I interrupted Madam Pince." Minerva gave the librarian a pointed look.
The rest of the introductions went rather smoothly. Hermione meet the astronomy professor, Aurora Sinistra; the Arthmancy professor, Septima Vector; the Ancient Runes professor Bathsheda Babbling; the Muggle Studies professor, Charity Burbage; the Charms professor Filius Flitwick – who seemed to be the only male the Hermione wasn't terrified of upon first meeting; the Herbology professor, Pomona Sprout; and the Care of Magical Creature professor, Silvanus Kettleburn. The three professors that Hermione didn't meet were Professor Duggered, who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts; Professor Binns, who taught History of Magic; and Sybill Trelawney, who taught Divination.
Hermione was also introduced to Argus Flitch, it took all her will power not to scream in terror – she did hide behind Minerva thought.
"So, Hermione" Hooch asked around a mouthful of food, "Since you are here, you wanna learn some subjects early?"
"I like learning." Hermione murmured.
"That didn't answer her question, little one." Severus drawled.
Hermione nodded.
"Now was that the answer to Hooch, or were you agreeing with me?" Severus smirked.
"I was – I was answering Madam Hooch." Hermione whispered.
"There we go." Hooch crowed and slapped Hermione on the back. Hermione instantly froze up. "Minerva" Hooch slowly said, "I think I broke her… again."
Minerva turned to see Hermione frightened eyes looking at her. "Hermione, what's wrong?" Hermione just shook her head, so Minerva tried a different tactic, "Hooch, what did you do?"
"I just slapped her on the back; I didn't even put any force behind it." Hooch put both hands up in surrender.
"Hermione, that is just something Quidditch players do." Minerva ran her fingers through the young girl's hair. "You make a good play, they hit each other. Hooch played Quidditch while she was at school here and she used to play for the Hollywood Harpies; some habits are hard to break. Okay?"
Hermione nodded and turned to Hooch, "S-s-sorry."
"Hey, there is no need to apologize to me. I should be apologizing to you." Hooch sighed.
"Hermione" Severus drawled, "What subjects would you like to get a head start in." He had figured that if you got Hermione talking about learning that she might feel a little more comfortable, he knew he did.
All eyes at the table turned and focused on Hermione, making her feel uncomfortable. She shrank down in her seat. "Al-al-albus is teaching me Oc-occlumency and Legilimency." Hermione mumbled. That got an eye raise from just about everyone at the table, and not just at Hermione's use of the Headmaster's first name. "Min is helping me with Transfiguration and Animagi training; but those two subjects are very similar." Hermione smiled at the Transfiguration Professor.
"Min?" Poppy asked, "You call her 'Min'?"
"Y-yes, should I not?" Hermione squirmed in her seat.
Minerva sent Poppy a death glare. "You can call me whatever makes you comfortable, Kitten."
"I didn't ask what you were learning" Severus gently rebuked, "What you wanted to learn."
Hermione paused for a moment, "Albus gave me a bunch of text books for Christmas…" Said Headmaster was on the receiving end of six looks that said 'really, text books for Christmas?' He just shrugged. Hermione continued, not realizing the looks Albus was receiving, "Charms seems to be a fascinating subject, Potions appears to be extremely similar to cooking, both Ancient Runes and Astronomy seem a little difficult – getting a head start would be nice, Arthmancy is just an upper level arithmetic course, I think I can learn History of Magic on my own, from what I've read Herbology sounds exciting, Minerva said that I have to learn how to fly, Care of Magical Creatures, no offense, but I would rather keep my limbs in tacked…"
That got a chuckled out of the professors.
"Non taken, Hermione." Professor Kettleburn, assured her in between chuckles.
Blushing, Hermione continued, "Min promised me that we would work on the practical application of Defense Against the Dark Arts and I can learn the subject matter on my own, and Divination appears to be one of the most imprecise branches of magic…"
Severus burst out laughing, "It appears that we have a little Minerva on our hands."
Flitwick piped up, "Hermione, I am sure that all of us would be more than happy to instruct you in our given field. Come to us during our office hours with any questions you might have and we will help you."
"Thank you." Hermione whispered, face tomato red. The only people who had shown her kindness were Minerva and Albus; and now she had most of the Hogwarts professors saying that they would be more than willing to help her. She sensed that they all wanted her to seek them out, they loved teaching and having such a young one willing to learn was what they, as teachers, yearned for.