Ok so here is chapter 10
it is around 6,700 words, one of my longest chapters so far, so I hope it doesn't seem too wordy or long
a few things I want to address before we go into this because I am sure that it will bug a few HP fans, but I am making Dumbledore the defense against the dark arts professor like in crimes of Grindelwald, I know I know in the books he was the transfiguration professor, but for the sake of where my story is probably going I thought this was the better choice
Also yes we are finally at Hogwarts! I have named a few of the professors already but if you have a fun suggestion for a name of a professor feel free to comment on it and I might just use it!
And finally a BIG thank you to those who have commented so far on this FF it really does keep me going!
It was a slightly rainy day. Hermione's mood was all over the place. She was finally going back to Hogwarts. A place she regarded as her second home. The place where she made her dearest of friends. Where magic became real. But also a place where she watched the brutal murder of those same friends and many others. For a while she contemplated turning back, having the carriage take her back to the comfort of the libraries at the Pembrook estate.
But as soon as she got her first glimpse of the castle, all of her worries fell by the wayside. It was as though she was seeing the castle from a first year's eyes. There was not a hint of what it looked like during the battle, all that was there was just its majesty and greatness. And it hit her again that she would have to protect this place as well. Of course for now the castle was safe, but Voldemort would come to covet this place for himself to brainwash the generations to come. And she would not allow that to happen.
As the carriage landed in the courtyard she could make out a familiar face standing to greet her. Internally Hermione groaned, of course, it would be Slughorn that would welcome her. Never one to miss an opportunity to make acquaintances with a prominent wizarding family. With a deep breath, Hermione exited the carriage and entered the familiar courtyard.
"Ah, Miss. Pembrook, how lovely to meet you. I am Professor Slughorne, I teach potions here at Hogwarts. But I am also the head of the most noble Slytherin House. Oh, I do hope that once you go through your examinations that you will be sorted into my house! All of the houses are fine of course, but I can assure you that all the best wizards and witches get sorted into Slytherin."
"Oh is that the truth, I did some light reading into Hogwarts, including Hogwarts a History, and I noted that there were many fine wizards to come from Slytherin house." Hermione said, inflating Slughorn's already large ego.
"Already in the books Miss Pembrook! Perhaps you are a little more of a Ravenclaw! But there is hope for you yet, one of the best students in the school is Tom Riddle and he is a Slytherin. Now we must be on our way. The other professors are waiting for you."
"Yes, I would not want to make them wait." Hermione said, following the now only middle-aged man.
Entering the halls almost felt like returning home. She marveled at how the grounds were even more magnificent than she remembered. The architecture brought back both good and bad memories, somehow she could almost see her little 11 or 12-year-old self running through the archways and halls with Harry and Ron. But neither of her best friends were here with her. She was on her own, and though this world was now more familiar there were still many things she did not have control over, and just because she came from the future did not mean she could predict everything.
She could feel the stares of passerby students. It was a weekend so there were more students lounging around the corredores and sunny green gardens that were on the grounds. They passed by multiple classrooms until finally, they reached one of the larger lecture halls. Entering the room Hermione saw who she presumed were the professors at Hogwarts.
"Ah good, I see that most of us are here!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed, then starting from the front of the group he began introducing the professors and their respective subjects, as well as a brief overview of how their exam will be formatted. After they finished with care for magical creatures professor, the door in the back of the classroom flew open revealing a much younger-looking Professor Dumbledore. He had flowing magenta and gold robes around him and his beard had not yet lost all of its auburn hue. But Hermione could also see that the older man had bags under his eyes, and that despite the physical apparent energy he exuded his eyes screamed that he craved rest.
"Ah Albus!" Slughorn said, shuffling to the end of the group. "I have here a one, Hermione Pembrook. She will be starting her examinations soon, is there anything you wanted to say to her before she starts about your portion of the exams?"
"Well," Professor Dumbledore said, brushing his beard a few times, "As you well know Miss. Pembrook, mine is the only section that will have a practical component to it. And I thought about it more this morning, but myself and our headmaster both think that it would be easier to see your level of skill through a duel rather than a regular spell casting practical."
"And who will I be dueling professor?" Hermione asked
"Why the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor himself, in other words, myself dear. But do not fret this will just be a duel to gauge your strength. I will not come at you with my full strength." Professor Dumbledore said in a bit of a condescending voice, that she was sure he had meant to sound reassuring.
"Ah, I see. And this will be after I have finished taking my written exams?"
"Yes." he replied smoothly
"Wonderful," Hermione responded with a pleasant smile, whereas professor Dumbledore and some of the other professors gave her a quizzical look. "Well let's get this started then shall we!" Hermione said, taking a seat in front of the stack of papers sitting on one of the desks.
"Such enthusiasm, perhaps we have another Ravenclaw to add to the school!" Exclaimed one of the professors.
"All bets are on till the sorting hat has had its time to shine. She might end up in Gryffindor with how brave she seems to be to face dueling our Albus here." Another professor chimed in.
"Now hush, hush all of you. I shall administer the first examination," Professor Slughorn said, removing a substantial section from the pile of papers. He then placed them down in front of Hermione, summoning some parchment and some ink with a quill. "Now dear you will have two hours to take this exam, I will stay to proctor you, and then once you are ready to take the next exam I will call for the professor of that subject to proctor you while the previous professor grades your work. There will be three exams before lunch and three after. Then you will retire to your quarters, under Headmaster Dipits office, for dinner, and tomorrow we will repeat the same schedule until you are finished. Then you will be Sorted and you will receive accommodations in your assigned house. Does that make sense?"
"Yes Professor." Hermione said pleasantly
"Well then you may begin." Professor Slughorn said, waving his wand, glittering numbers appeared in the air to signify how much time she had left. And with that the rest of the professors left the room and Slughorn took a seat behind the desk.
As the door closed behind the last teacher exiting, Hermione began her test. She had to hold in a scoff, she could do this in her sleep it felt so rudimentary. Maybe because Hermione had already read masters levels potions before so her threshold of what she considered difficult was much higher, but as she began writing her responses to the questions she realized that all of the exam answers she was giving were also partly things she had learned from Snape. Snape the genius of their time, with positions at least, had been her professor and she had learned from the half-blood prince as well, who also turned out to be Snape. And Hermione had soaked up all of his knowledge offered to her. Hermione had always been ahead of her studies, but this felt a bit unfair. Almost like taking a primary school exam. So when Hermione stood and walked over to Professor Slughorn at the hour mark, naturally he thought she only had a question to ask.
"No Professor, I am finished." Hermione said, another pleasant smile resting on her lips.
"Are you sure my dear, did you complete the section on the polyjuice potion? It is a very complicated question for a very complicated potion." Slughorn said, flipping through the parchment she handed in and paused for a moment reading, "No no I see that you have indeed answered the question. Well my dear I will call for the next proctor, I believe that you have Herbology next." and with a wave from his wand, an owl took flight from the window.
"Ah, I see, well, I am glad that everything is in good order." Hermione said, walking back to her seat. Noting how engrossed Slughorn was with her essays.
After a few minutes of an owl being sent, the Herbology professor came in. She was a round woman with a kind face, when she came through the door you could tell she had rushed down the halls. If Hermione remembered correctly her name was Professor Wattle, a fitting name as the woman did in fact have a slight sway side to side as she walked "Sorry to make you wait, I had to show the groundskeeper and his new assistant how to deal with the mugwort infestation that is growing on the grogier shoots for class next week before it got too out of hand."
"Ah yes of course," Professor Slughorn said, in a very distracted manner, "Right on time." And as though he was in a daze he stood from his chair eyes still on her parchment and walked out of the classroom.
"Well dearie I hope that that was a good sign. I have never seen professor Slughorn so engrossed in grading." Professor Wattle said going to the pile of papers and taking off her section handing it to Hermione and sitting herself in the teacher's chair in the front of the room.
Once again Hermione found herself riddled with how to approach the easy work. She snuck a look up at the professor who was comfortably reading the daily profit in the chair. Running her fingers through her hair Hermione looked back down at the blank parchment paper and began answering the questions to the best of her knowledge, without answering anything that would not have been added in the future, something she knew she would have trouble with her care for magical creatures exam.
Finishing in an even faster time than potions, Hermione made her way to the front of the classroom. "Professor, I have finished the exam."
"Are you sure you don't need to look over it or add anything?" Professor Wattle asked
"No Professor, I used to spend a lot of my time in the woods. So there is actually a lot of overlap between this and some of my time studying various copies of Magical Masters of the Underneath Forests: Associated Plants and Fungi by S Ferlet so, yes, I think I am ready to turn this in." Hermione said, confidently with a pleasant smile.
Professor Wattle looked up at Hermione with a bright smile, "Oh what a wonderful read, I assigned that book to my 7th years last year and most of them couldn't make it through the first half!"
It was actually one of the many herbology books that Hermione had read at Grimmauld place, and it had been very helpful in their survival in the forests before and after. Never had she ever thought that Herbology would be so helpful or important in her life. "Yes it was a very informative read, there were a few parts that were hard to understand and there were definitely some slow points, but there is so much helpful information in there that the benefits far out way the difficulty of the read."
"Perhaps they were right about you being a Ravenclaw! Although one would have to have Gryffindor courage to pick that thick text up!" Professor Wattle said, finally taking Hermione's papers, "I was a little worried that I had made the exam too difficult since this is such an unprecedented situation, but I am glad that someone of your pedigree is rising to surpass expectations.", and with that, the owl flew off to get the next Professor.
The rest of the exams went by quickly as well. The only trouble Hermione had was making sure that she was not using any material that had not been invented or discovered yet. Which was particularly hard in Care for magical creatures as the class and subject itself was still in its infancy. These were dark times for magical creatures. They had practically no rights. Witches and Wizards were considered higher beings that did not have the time nor did they need to have the time to understand the creatures beneath them. It was a dangerous way of thinking Hermione thought to herself as she was filling out her parchment. There was a whole section on werewolves, a section where Hermione could not hold back in as she knew the laws frontways and backways and their long history of discrimination among the wizarding population.
Her quill hand hurt, but overall Hermione felt refreshed once she turned in her last examination of the day. The room that she was given was lush with the colors of the school and its crest was embroidered everywhere. It was obviously some sort of guest room that Hermione had been unaware of, she always assumed that if one was visiting Hogwarts they had to find lodging in Hogsmeade, but this made more sense. It was curious to her as to why they seemed to be keeping her at a distance from the rest of the student population, as all of her meals were also served to her in that room, but she assumed this must have something to do with them wanting to wait until she got sorted into a house and could sit at a table with her peers and not at the table with the teachers which would only make her stand out more.
The next day was very similar to the first except they had more advanced classes like ancient runes and Arithmancy, but the one exam that stumped her, and probably would always stump her, would be Divination. It was the only exam where she was working on it to the last second and was unsure of more than a few answers. When she turned it in she even apologized to the professor saying it was not her best subject. And with that, she did her best to let it go. To be honest, it was all quite fun for Hermione, she always had enjoyed taking exams as they had always calmed her down and focused her in troubling times, which when you were a friend of Harry Potter was all the time. All there was now was the thrill of anticipation of getting her marks back, and then her practical. She needed top marks for her plans, so she was not going to hold back her quill and she was surely not going to hold back her wand. Especially not in front of someone she needed to catch the eye of.
When Hermione came back from Lunch she noted that there was now a long dueling platform in the front of the room. Her heart skipped a beat. She heard the next professor come through the door. Her third and second to last exams went by in a haze, as Hermione went through the motions of filling out the answers to the questions, her eyes going back and forth from her parchment to the dueling stage. Finally, for her last exam she could almost hear the fluttering of his robes before he entered the room, Albus Dumbledore, there to administer the exam then the practical. Hermione was tingling with anticipation, she could hardly do anything other than give an excited smile to the older man.
"Happy to be done I take it?" Dumbledore asked in response to her
"One could say that. Or one could say that I am simply excited to duel a master such as yourself." Hermione said
As Dumbledore got closer he leaned in and whispered so the other leaving professor could not hear, "There is no need to stroke my ego like Professor Slughorne." Then he quickly backed away giving her a small wink and a pat on her shoulder.
"Oh no sir!" Hermione said as he backed away towards the now much smaller stack of papers, "I truly meant what I said, no flattery in the world would be able to express how excited I am for this dual, though I must say though it will be a walk in the park for you I do plan on doing my utmost best!"
"She's a bright one too Albus," the Arithmancy professor said standing from where he was sitting grading the parchment. The Arithmancy professor was a much older man, the wrinkles on his face hung down over all of his features, he had a hump to his back most likely from days spent hunched over a table calculating, "I am only halfway through but so far I have yet to see any fault in her calculations at all." He said in an impressed tone, "I look forward to watching your duel later this evening Miss. Pembroke." The door lightly closed behind the exiting much older professor.
"Well, you seem to have made a good impression on all of the professors." Dumbledore said looking down at the girl, "That is not one easy feat, especially with Professor Bullwark, he is notorious for being difficult to please. Even the brightest of students rarely get much praise from him." Dumbledore said, taking a more analytical look at the young girl. "You know your ancestor has ties to this school."
"Well yes technically, though the stories have been taken and twisted a bit." Hermione said once again taking her seat in preparation for her final exam.
"Oh. How so?" Dumbledore asked curiously
"Well everyone seems to think that he was one of the first students sorted into Slytherin, but that is not the case." Hermione started, "In fact, he aided the founders in the magic in the creation of the Sorting hat. He was the first to test the hat and was sorted into Slytherin. But he never attended the school. He was much older than even the founders, historically it just doesn't make sense for him to have actually attended the school."
"Well now that is a very interesting view of things. It certainly is more plausible since he would have been an old man already by the time of the school's founding." Dumbledore said, brushing his beard with his hand, "Well we should probably start your exam, as I am sure some of the Professors are looking forward to our little match."
"Yes Professor." Hermione said, dipping her quill in the ink
Dumbledore set the papers in front of her and with a flick of his want the time was glittering in the sky in front of her, "And you may begin, Miss Pembroke."
The exam was similar to the ones before in terms of difficulty. There wasn't anything that was unfamiliar to her and though the variety of spells and wizarding knowledge was fairly vast, it was no lie to say that Hermione had, at the very least, the literary knowledge of most of the important and even the minor spells and enchantments. And as the hour mark rounded the corner Hermione was finishing her last paragraph. She read it over as the ink quickly dried, then sat up straight, stretching her arms up and out before finally getting up and bringing the exam to Dumbledore.
"Finished already?" Dumbledore asked raising an eyebrow
"Yes Professor." Hermione said
"Well considering how you have blown through your previous exams I would say that I am fairly confident that I will be getting top-level work." Dumbledore said, taking the parchment. He then looked over to the owl sitting there and nodded at it. Somehow the bird understood what that meant and flew off out of the window.
"I only do the best I can." Hermione said straightening her posture
"Yes well that is all that is the most we can ask from anyone now isn't it." Dumbledore mused as he looked down at her work.
"You never know, professor, there are those who ask for more than you can give. It is the kind of pressure that can either push a person to greatness or break them down." Hermione said, eyes looking out of the window staring into the clouds. She remembered the kind of pressure that Harry was constantly under. He always had to pull through, not just meet the minimum but go over everyone's expectations. But the boy who lived couldn't live under that kind of pressure forever she thought bitterly to herself.
There was a stillness in the room as Dumbledore observed the young woman. For the first time he truly looked at her, and she seemed much older than she was. There was a far-off look in her eyes that reminded him of the past somehow. He wasn't sure if he liked this girl yet, there was no doubt that she was incredibly smart for a girl her age. Or rather smart in general from what he heard from his colleagues. But what else was there? He knew of another person who was brilliant, yet his fault was hidden deep, in a deep-seated evil. He wondered how these two would interact. Two great minds of a generation in the same school. It could either create the perfect storm or perfect harmony. Plans began forming in his mind. For a moment neither of them moved.
Then there was a click as the door opened and Professor Wattle came through the door and a few other professors walked in behind her. "Ah I see you have not started yet!" she said trotting down the classroom steps towards the stage. "Well though we do hope that you were not waiting on us to start, we all are excited to see if Hermione's talents go beyond the quill."
A tad rude, Hermione thought shaken from her thoughts, but she would take it that she had done well on her examinations if this was their response.
Slughorne popped into the room not too long after the rest, all smiles and nods as all of them traded notes about their respective exams and her answers. Soon the man made his way over to Hermione and lightly grasped her by the elbow, "I was wondering if I could speak with you about one of your answers on the exam." He said his features turning a bit more serious, but there was a curiosity behind his eyes.
"There was nothing wrong with it? Was there, Professor?" Hermione asked
Slughorn's eyebrows raised "Oh no no no my dear! Quite the opposite in fact! I wanted to ask you about your answer regarding the Gelital Freez potion. Your version, because well my dear it is in fact a completely different version of the potion I know, crumbles the morgue root, then peels a bit of pear, before adding in tears of lyse, and eye of newt. Now at first, I was going to simply mark you incorrect, but it would have been the only thing you had gotten incorrect on the whole exam and I thought that it would be terribly unfair for me to take away points on a good potion. So I tried your method and to my great surprise, it not only worked but was incredibly more stable than any regular Gelital Freez potion. Just where did you come up with this? I know Saint Mungo's would just be over the moon to have this recipe."
"Ah, well first of all I did not change the base of liquid ire, salt, and moth water. But crumbling the morgue root makes it combine better and more stable as there are less cold points so there is also less worry about having to control temperature. Peels of pear, as I am sure you know, are for the drying out of a Walter Freez potion, and though the effects of the Freez potion are widely different here I thought the drying effects of the pear would work in a similar fashion. As for the tears of Lyse…" Hermione was cut off mid-sentence by Dumbledore
"I am sorry to interrupt but I believe everyone is here and I am sure that we all do not want to miss dinner and see where our young Hermione will be sorted." Dumbledore said, gesturing towards the platform.
"Well of course," Slughorn said, "There will be plenty of time later for you to explain the rest during my office hours. Or an even better idea, you must demonstrate your potion to my little club, which you must join I will get you the invitation to our next party as soon as possible. Very exclusive invitation-only the best really. Well anyway, time to pop onto the stage. Do your best!" and with that, the middle-aged man took a seat on the second row.
Looking around her she could see that most of the professors had gathered to see her little duel. And finally, she was beginning to get a little nervous. It had been a while since her last proper duel. And she was shaking a bit with the anticipation of it. Reaching down, she unholstered her wand and firmly grasped it as she walked to the platform. She was not rusty, she hoped. She had been practicing in the training room at the Pembroom Family estate. But it had been months since she had been in any real altercation. And even then, that was not the proper way to fight. She knew the proper way to fight of course. She knew the right stances and motions, but she had spent so long fighting so desperately for her life that she had developed a more ragged form of fighting that she was hoping would not be on display.
"Wands at the ready." Dumbledore said, meeting her at the center of the platform.
The two brought their wands to their faces at the ready. Then they each swiped their wands towards the ground and walked 10 paces back. Next, they took their respective duling positions. "And begin!" Dumbledore said
"Stupify!" Hermione shouted
Dumbledore put up a protego, but the force from her stupify shocked him and pushed him a few feet back.
Not wanting to give him a break to volley anything back at her, Hermione began sending a round of spells at him. Dumbledore was immediately put on the defensive, but even though he was surprised by the power and preciseness behind each of the girl's spells he couldn't help but feel there was something more to her. She was like a snake making quick and precise lunges at her target, and anyone bite that landed felt as though it could be fatal. Finally, there was a brief opening as Hermione paused for a breath. And Dumbledore thought he had better make good use of his opportunity. Letting go of his shield charm he circled his wand in the air and all the candles in the room burned brighter before shooting small balls of fire at her from different directions.
Hermione started muttering incantations of great complexity. The other professors heard a weird rushing noise, as though she had unleashed the power of the wind into the classroom. The charms professor muttered "Protego horribilis!", in awe that a student would know such an advanced level protection charm.
The shield charm could not have come up fast enough. The smell of singed hair filled Hermione's nose, and with the balls of fire coming towards her, in her mind, the walls of the classroom came crumbling down. She began to flashback to the battle of Hogwarts, the noise of spells colliding, the electricity of battle, it all made the professors and the backdrop of the classroom fall away. Her eyes narrowed and she became hyperfocused on the battle and survival instincts kicked in. Holding the protection charm in the air with one hand she used her other to cast another strong stupify with the other. This one rickashayed off of Dumbledore's silent protego violently hitting a pile of books on one of the tables, knocking them all into the air.
Noticing the shift in his dueling partner, Dumbledoor focused in on disarming the potentially dangerous girl. She had certainly shown that she had talent in spades, but she had an almost rabid look to her and she needed to be shaken out of it. "Expelliarmus!" Dumbledore said, skilfully twisting his wand in her direction. But Hermione's shield was still up and the spell glided off of it with ease. In response, she sent a silent bombarda to the feet of Dumbledore looking to destroy the platform beneath him and then incapacitate him.
The spell hit just a pace in front of the older wizard and he shielded his face with his arm as fragments of the stage splintered into the air with the force of the small explosion. The shaking of the platform shook both of them making Hermione briefly lose her concentration on her Protego letting it fall to the ground.
Taking advantage of the barrier falling Dumbledoor sent a babbling charm her way in order to stop her from saying anymore spells. Hermione took the spell to the chest and began spouting out rambling sentences that made no coherent sense. Focusing in on her opponent though she was able to stop the babbling by sending a solid silent stupify towards him. There was another murmuring among the teachers, they were shocked that such a young witch would have the ability to cast silent spells and though most sat in awe, some of the others were thinking of what amazing things this witch would go on to do.
Dumbledore on the other hand was becoming warier of the girl that had come out of nowhere. She obviously had dueling experience of some kind and knew at least some wandless and wordless attack spells. But who trained her? And for what purpose? Most witches did not get taught this form of magic as it was thought to be too advanced for them, obviously Miss Pembrook was proving all those notions incorrect. And there was a look in her eyes that was unmistakable, she had seen combat, there was a willpower there that overrode a regular sense of self identity. But whose side was she fighting on? She hadn't used any dark spells, in fact there wasn't even a hint of her using dark magic. But there was someone else in this school that, though was a model student, had no doubts that he was dabbling into the dark arts.
Hermione seeing her opponent slightly distracted in thought tried to take the upper hand casting a particularly fast expeliamas. It took Dumbledore by surprise as he barely blocked the spell and Hermione immediately followed it with a stupify this one even closer.
The next spell two spells were the same from each dueler, casting expelliarmus simultaneously their spells made contact with one another in a spectacular show of blue sparks filling the air and a blinding white light in the center where they connected. As the two continued to hold onto their respective spells Dumbledore began to creep along gaining the upper hand as his spell made its way slowly to her wand. There was little Hermione could do as she tried to push back and strength into her own spell momentarily stopping him, but Dumbledore took a firm stance and continued to focus in on the spell and its destination. Wind whipped around the room and electricity crackled in the air as the force of the two spells collision was causing the classroom to become quite a mess.
Eventually, after a bit of back and forth, Dumbledore's spell pushed back Hermione's and hit her wand releasing it from her hand and making it fly into the air towards the older man.
Almost immediately the wind died down and the air returned to normal. But Hermione was not done yet, her mind was still in attack mode, but as she was about to fire a wandless spell the sound of clapping rang in her ears. Then her opponent turned to their audience of teachers and bowed slightly. This shook her out of her state but still in a bit of a haze she also turned to the audience to see most of the professors on their feet with smiles on their faces applauding what they saw as a marvelous test of skill.
Hermione resisted the urge to get her wand and run from the stage. She was ashamed at the loss of control she had during the battle, how quickly she had lost her momentum and strategy. Regardless of the fact that she had the talent to take on many powerful witches and wizards in that mindset Albus Dumbledore was not one of those. He was at the pinnacle of dueling and spell casting and had she had her wits about her she could have done something a little more creative or tactful.
Her wand hand twitched and a feeling of anxiousness began to grow without a wand in her reach. So she walked up to Dumbledore who had already descended from the platform.
"Thank you for the match professor." Hermione said holding out her hand
"You are a very talented witch, I must say." Dumbledore said, clasping her hand in a brief shake, "But you lose yourself in the battle a little too much."
"Yes, well what can I say, fighting someone of your caliber made me nervous and when it came down to it I still have much to learn when it comes to restraining my emotions."
"Well you are still young dear, that will come with time and experience." Dumbledore said, giving Hermione her wand back. He patted her reassuringly on her shoulder, but he had a wary look in his eyes.
"Yes Professor." Hermione said, looking away ashamedly.
Slughorn seemingly out of nowhere came up to Hermione and with a boisterous voice congratulated her on her dueling abilities, "I really must say you have some of the potential to be the best of your generation if I do say so myself. And for a witch that is a very impressive thing indeed."
"Thank you professor." Hermione responded
"Now you must continue telling me about this potion..." He continued on as giddy as could be.
"Professor Slughorn," Dumbledore interrupted, "It may be best to talk and walk as soon, for the first time in Hogwarts history I believe, all of the professors will be late for dinner."
"Ah yes," Professor Slughorn said, "Let us talk and walk. Oh, I do hope you will be sorted into my house!"
Along the walk to the great hall Slughorn dominated the conversation asking her questions about potions and theory and ingredients. Hermione responded carefully, but it distracted her from her previous blunder of a duel, so she was grateful for the distraction.
As they reached the great hall the professors entered and Hermione was instructed to wait outside until she was called for. It didn't take long for Headmaster Dippit to address the hungry children. His voice sounded similar to how Hermione would have imagined it, there was a vibrato to it that older people generally had and he paused frequently for effect, but overall he was fairly to the point. Until finally he got to addressing the crowd about her.
"Now, as I am sure that most of you have realized by now, we have a new student joining us this term. She is an extraordinarily bright young girl and I expect her to be welcomed here with open arms despite which house she will be placed in. We all know how important all of your ties are to your individual houses, but we must remember that we are all a part of one school. So, without further ado, I call Hermione Pembrooke to the stand for her sorting."
Straightening her posture and setting her eyes dead ahead she made her way towards the front of the great hall. Hermione wasn't used to the stares and whispers like Harry had been, but she was used to ignoring them. The world clouded around her as she got up to the sorting hat, she was focused on one thing at a time, and right now that was being sorted right where she needed to be in order to have the most influence.
Headmaster Dipit was standing with the sorting hat in his hands and a small stool was sitting right next to him. Gracefully as she could Hermione sat on the small stool now facing all of the students in the great hall, all she did was face the exit with a firm stare as she made sure her walls were up.
Gently the hat was placed on her head. It was silent for a moment. Then it began digging around her head, looking for clues about her personality and history flowing through her mind. But anytime it tried to look into her past or into something she didn't want it to see a hard wall was put up and thankfully it stood strong.
"Hmmmm," the hat began in her head, "Tricky little thing aren't you. Not very open-minded. Or is it just that you have a lot to hide? I can tell you are smart, yes, no doubt about that. Ravenclaw would suit a mind that absorbs knowledge like yours… but no, too talented for Ravenclaw I think, too cunning, too ambitious. Slytherin might be the right place for you. Plenty of opportunities for you to garner a following, forge a path to greatness. Your talents would certainly not go unnoticed."
"And what of Gryffindor?" Hermione asked out of curiosity. There was someplace in her heart that wished she still belonged in her old house of red and gold.
"Ah yes, the lions of this school. You certainly have the bravery of one, but let us not lie to ourselves dear, we both know you would run circles around any Gryffindor. There might be adventure, yes, but you are not very trusting of others, and Gryffindors rely on their bonds more than anything. They are loyal to a fault. From what I have seen there is no one in this world that you are loyal to other than yourself. Another reason Slytherin would be the house for you. They are not open by nature or easily trusting but you could slither your way into their minds somehow my dear you certainly seem to have a talent for it."
"I don't know if these are compliments or insults…" Hermione thought
"Miss Pembrooke I do not deal with compliments or insults, only observations." and with that, the sorting hat shouted out loud, "Slytherin!"
There was an uproar of clapping coming from the Slytherin table as Hermione got up from the stool and made her way to the Slytherin table. She knew in her mind that this was the best place to be for her plans, but it still felt as though she was betraying some part of herself and her old friends by walking over to the opposite side of the Great Hall. But her plans were just starting to come together, this was just one step in the direction she needed to go, and she needed to get rid of her feelings of regret and nostalgia and live for the future. That was what was important.
Little did Hermione know as she was lost in thought that there were several pairs of eyes on her from all corners of the room, but the most intense of all being a pair of startling greedy green eyes from her own new house.
OK so what did you think?
Please comment and let me know
she has finally reached Hogwarts and I have some interesting plans for her while she is there
But seriously though I do really thrive on comments no matter how small even if they are a critique I embrace them all
so once again please comment and let me know what you think!