'Dear Tom, today was nice, although it's getting chilly outside. I got five points for transfiguring my rat into a glass goblet, and Professor McGonagall said it looked pretty good. And in Defence Against the Dark Arts we get a group project! We're supposed to research different ways of defeating Red Caps. Gloria, Rowley, and Henry agreed to work with me.'
'Group project? I didn't have to do too many of those when I was a student, thankfully. It's incredibly annoying when one person comes up with all the good ideas and everybody gets credit, but you still have to put up with them to get a good grade.'
Hermione smirked. Of course Tom would think so. 'Did you have to work with a lot of bad groups, Tom?'
'Half the time they can't tell one end of a wand from the other, and they end up getting the same mark as me. At least the professors knew who did the thinking, though.'
'My professor told us we could choose our own groups, so that we can find people closer to our own skill levels.'
'Mine did too, but I'd rather work with idiots than people who think themselves smart and refuse to listen to someone who knows better than them.' Then, in perfectly neat letters, 'Besides, this way at least the people who are doing badly can learn something from the project.'
'That's so nice of you, Tom!' Hermione humoured him. Better unintelligent than disobedient, huh? This fitted with what she'd heard of his policy of gaining power through instilling fear and obliterating opponents. It also explained why he chose to murder his way to power rather than a quiet takeover through, say, running for Minister. But he was clearly capable of making some concessions here since he'd managed to get a few decent followers after all – like Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, and probably Tristan Nott as well. Then again, it was highly likely that he did not believe they could possibly threaten him.
'Well Rowley, Henry, Gloria and I talked a bit about the project this class, and they seem pretty nice. I can't wait to start working with them! Maybe they'll even become friends with me, since we'll be spending so much time together. Goodnight, Tom!'
'Goodnight, Sally.'
Having taught at Hogwarts for twenty or so years, Hermione had always remembered the North Tower as a classroom for advance duelling. Hence, to see it filled with smoke and incense and half-asleep students as it was now was especially disconcerting.
They were supposed to be staring at tealeafs again, but their professor decided at the last minute that she would introduce them to Tarot cards because she "foresaw" herself teaching this topic.
"Ooh your third card is #6: the Lovers, Lavender!" Parvati was squealing, "Does that mean she's going to fall in love, Professor?"
But Hermione doubted that Professor Trelawney heard her, for the great seer herself was currently bent over Harry and Ron's table and clutching dramatically at her heart. "Death! My poor boy! I – when I saw the Grim in the tea leaves I thought desperately that I may be wrong, but- No, it's kinder not to say – "
"Why's that card even in the deck?" Harry muttered under his breath as Lavender and Parvati immediately twisted around to stare at him with wide, pitying eyes.
Ron on the other hand looked a bit uncomfortable now. "Er… Professor… Those three cards are mine, not Harry's…"
Looking obviously put out, Trelawney shuffled over to Lavender's table.
"Ok, go ahead Sally," Neville called, fanning out a deck of cards.
Hermione carelessly pulled out the second, fourth, and sixth card from the left.
"Ok so that's #20: Judgement, #18: The Moon, and #16: The Tower, all upright," Neville consulted the thick tome titled 'Unfogging the Future' , "It says judgement represents rebirth, or absolution. The moon represents a fear, especially due to something long hidden – an ancient secret and such. The tower is for revelation. So would that mean you have a deep secret that's going to be revealed and you're afraid? But what would the first card mean? No that can't be right could it?… Hang on 'The Tower' can also mean danger or disaster, so maybe it means you have a dangerous secret that – but that can't be right! I mean, you're like the least likely person to be dangerous... Maybe I read something wrong -"
Hermione arched an eyebrow. 'Well. That was actually surprisingly accurate, considering…' "It's ok, Neville, don't bother. I think I know what this means."
"Er, y-you do, Sally?"
"Yes. I think we forgot to shuffle the deck, see? The cards are all in order."
"…Oh. Right!"
Despite whatever misgivings she had for Divination, however, Hermione found that she didn't mind the class too much. The setting was perfect for zoning out or doing other work, and as for homework, the profound-sounding bullshit that characterized the subject could be produced automatically by a well-charmed, well-modified dicto-quill.
"What are you writing, Sally?" Neville peered over the table when he noticed the notebook on her lap.
"Don't laugh, but I'm writing a novel," Hermione answered truthfully, "It's about a travelling inventor who goes on adventures and solves problems for people."
Having started working on this manuscript a little while before the end of her second year at Hogwarts, Hermione was already nearly through the first draft. She was glad that she'd saved a record of Lockhart's self-absorbed rambling that Lockhart during their correspondence now. Self-praising it may be, but the detailed descriptions and rationales of all the measures he'd tried to ensure the popularity of his writing was beyond useful. Honestly, if the man only just wrote fiction instead of fake autobiographies he would've been famous already, but no…
"You're writing a story? Cool!" Always the first to overhear things, Seamus leaned over.
"I thought it would be a good way to make some money," Hermione shrugged. 'And a good way to send a message…'
Because literature was one of the greatest tools of directing the attitude of a society. Perhaps this was why practically every revolution in muggle history had its representative writers, artists, and musicians. But having spent much time in bookstores like Flourish and Blotts, Hermione found that most of the admittedly small selection of wizard-authored novels were either along the lines of 'Hero slays dragon' or 'Hero discovers ancient artifact'. Neither of which encouraged innovation rather than merely repeating ancient knowledge, or taming danger on occasions rather than slaying it.
If the tension due to the issue of the Dark Arts - the collective of the most potent magicks - was to be truly resolved, she would do well to change that.
Then, there was the fact that due to limited selection of wizard novels – one would, in fact, be hard pressed to find a story less than fifty years old – children, especially muggleborns, were filling that gap with muggle literature. While this was not entirely undesirable, it does nothing for helping muggleborns understand the magical culture. It also makes the magical world more susceptible to some muggle bad habits such as sexism and the obsession with body shape - bad habits that muggles developed back before they had science, when their survival still depended on physical strength. While studying news records and trying to catch up on important events that occurred in the past millennium, Hermione had seen many evidences of powerful matriarchs and patriarchs fighting teeth and nail to keep these attitudes out, but still it was very slowly creeping into the lower echelons of the magical society.
It was in fact one of the cause of tension between muggleborns and the old families, although the "progressives" and the advocates for a warmer welcome for muggleborns often don't realize this due to the abundant prejudice on both sides. The availability of reading material that was "modern" but definitely rooted in the magical culture would help to change that as well.
And finally, there was the benefit of having a clear source of income to her own name. Although she did not necessarily expect it to be as much as what she could earn through the Silver Spindle it would finally explain why Hermione Granger had more money than a muggleborn should, giving her a bit more room to maneuver.
"Wicked!" Ron said enviously.
"Well, I don't know how well this is going to sell yet so I'm just daydreaming at the moment," Hermione pointed out, "but you know, you could try and do something too. Start a business and the likes."
"Cease the chattering, if you please!" scolded Professor Trelawnley, "Mundane conversations cloud the Inner Eye!"
Hmm. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring her writing every Divination class. If the news spread and she was lucky, she just might inspire a few people. And it wasn't as if she actually cared about the grade for this anyways.
"I don't get this class," Neville muttered as Parvati and Lavender started to wave feverishly for Trelawnley's attention again.
"You and I both, Neville. You and I both..."
Though she did wonder, what would Professor Trelawnley have said if she'd seen her hand of cards?
Remus sat at his desk, and opened yet another parchment to grade. Snape's wolfbane potion saved him from transforming into a monster every month – which he was extremely grateful for, but it had the side effect of making him feel ill near the full moon.
Salazar, it was astounding just how much paperwork could build up over less than a week.
And this morning he had to teach Harry how to cast a patronus as he promised. Prongslet had done brilliantly, actually managing to conjure a smoky patronus after two hours of patient practicing and trial and error to find a strong enough memory. He looked a little bit put out when he learned that a patronus was actually supposed to look like an animal rather than just smoke, but assured Remus that he would keep practicing until he gets it right. Remus made a mental promise to find another boggart sometime, so that Harry could have something to test his patronus against. It was as close to a real dementor as they were going to get…
But the point was, none of this did anything for the massive pile of essays to read. Remus sighed.
'Red caps can be found in battlefields and places of bloodshed, where they hide in crevices to ambush the wounded survivors…'
This one was another one of the "better" papers, Remus thought as he wrote 'Outstanding, and good job on the extra research' on the parchment. It fell slightly on the short side of the full page he'd asked the students for, but it covered all the important points and a few extra details as well. And whose work was this?
'Hermione Granger, Gryffindor'
The girl who reads everything, according to Harry. That explained it.
Remus was about to set the essay aside to grade the next one, but paused. 'There it is again! That funny feeling…?'
Remus frowned. He wasn't sure why, but even from the first time he'd seen that particular student he'd been getting a strange feeling that she was somehow… different. It was as if there was something significant about her that he should know, but he just couldn't think of what. True, she was Harry's friend. True, she was consistently doing very well in Defence Against the Dark Arts (and all her other classes too, according to the other teachers). But Remus was pretty sure it wasn't either of those things, or the mystery would be solved. There seemed to be something… else, was there?
True, she was the only one in her class who didn't defeat the boggart on the first try, but was that really so strange? Strange enough that Remus would be thinking about it even now? Besides, that would imply that Remus was reminding himself that she needed extra help in D.A.D.A., when she certainly didn't. It didn't make sense.
Or was it the part where the boggart turned into a mirror? A mirror… Maybe…?
No, that was stupid. Hermione Granger was definitely human, and whoever invented the myth that vampires were afraid of mirrors was definitely a muggle. But if it hadn't been something Moony smelled on her, then what?
Remus didn't know.
Ah well. Maybe he was being silly.
Breaking out of his wool-gathering, Remus got back to work on the giant pile of essays. But maybe he'd ask the other professors what their impression of one Hermione Granger was.
After all, it couldn't hurt anybody…
A.N.: Haha raise your hand if you somewhat agree with Tom XD Don't worry, you're not alone...
Please vote on my profile page for which pairing(s), if any, you think could be suitable for Sally! The final pairing will be decided once I get to Year 4. No romance will start until at least year 4, though.
