WRITTEN FOR THE HOUSES COMPETITION, YEAR 7, ROUND 7

House: Ravenclaw

Class: Potions

Drabble

Prompt: [Emotion] Eagerness

Word Count: 859(google docs)

Thanks to Sarah and CK for the beta!

When Professor McGonagall came to tell her that she was a witch, Hermione's life changed irreversibly. She could pinpoint the exact moment she started to believe that magic was real, and more, it was the missing link, the one thing that explained everything weird or other about her. Listening to her future professor tell her family all about Magic School, Hermione's eyes widened and her breath came shorter. Something that had been small and sweet and unobtrusive inside of her cocked its head and grew fangs. But she didn't worry, she barely noticed! Hermione had always been a curious girl, she loved to learn new things, and the idea of being presented with a whole new world made her tremble with eagerness. A world of magic? She needed to know everything. Everything. Her enthusiasm was so great that Hermione almost couldn't contain it all inside her body — she wanted to jump up and down and scream, "I'm here, I'm here! Tell me everything!". It was hard to contain herself but her parents had taught her to be polite, most of all in front of other adults, so Hermione tried to settle her fervent spirit and followed Professor McGonagall's itinerary without running ahead when the professor guided her family through Diagon Alley.

When they finally arrived at the bookstore, she didn't rush inside. She walked as calmly as she could, which wasn't very, even though all she wanted was to run and skip and bury herself in the bookshelves and never leave. The fanged thing inside of her almost purred when she first got her hands on a Magic book.

Professor McGonagall spoke of many things that day, and when she took her leave she said,

"I'll see you in September, Miss Granger."

Hermione smiled back with all her teeth on show but truthfully she was caught between elation and despair. September was months away! On one hand, she had time to prepare, to read everything she could get her hands on. On the other hand, Hermione wanted Hogwarts and her magical instruction to start right then. She felt like she physically couldn't wait but she had to. It was awful. To feel better, she devoured book after book, convincing her parents to go back to Diagon Alley to get even more, then she stayed up past her bedtime to practice with her wand.

Every day, Hermione checked the calendar and neatly crossed off the date, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she counted all the remaining days until September 1st.

/

Finally going to Hogwarts felt more right than anything else Hermione had ever done in her life.

So eager she was to immerse herself in the library and scratch at the surface of all magic knowledge, that it took her a while to really notice her situation. No one talked to her.

Even at Magic School, her year mates thought she was a know-it-all and a swot and avoided her. But she wasn't selfish! She would love to share every amazing thing she learned. She wanted other people to understand everything too.

But it didn't work out, and Ronald Weasley only insulted her when Hermione tried to help.

It was such a shock to her system to learn that even in the Magical World she was too much. Hermione could almost see her last chance to be liked and make friends go up in smoke. So she learned. She learned to keep her zeal down and be helpful, and Harry and Ron learned to live with her need to know everything. It worked out, and her favourite times were when they got curious about something. Hermione happily spent all night reading up on the topic, then, too eager to share in the enthusiasm for knowledge to sleep.

After a while, it didn't matter if they couldn't match her, they all learned to compromise. The boys even learned to appreciate her in a way Hermione didn't know to hope for. Still, she toned it down outwardly but that little something inside of her that needed to know everything didn't disappear. It already had fangs, then it grew claws and became sharp during the war. It was fine then because it was useful. They needed every advantage they could get and Hermione's thirst for knowledge saved their lives.

The problem was that it didn't stop. Her need to know everything and her eagerness to be presented with a problem she could solve never stopped. So she made it into a career. After the Department of Mysteries accepted her application, Hermione accepted that eager, fanged thing as the cornerstone of her personality and went on with her life.

The only time she worried after that was when she and Ron decided to try for a child. She ended up being hyper-attentive to her daughter's, and then her son's, needs. She would study her children with keen eyes, learning them, and it was an arrangement that worked for everyone.

Hermione didn't think that need inside her would ever abate, but she came to believe that being always eager and curious about the world around her wasn't a bad way to go through life. It helped that everyone who mattered to her accepted her — thing with fangs and claws included.