Chapter 6

Hermione loved and hated Magical Art. It was the third week of classes and they had just finished with their introduction to the history of Magical Art and the Professor had decided that the next thing they need to make was a broom. A BROOM. For flying! Worse, once they had finished making their brooms they would be asked to fly them- in the air! What if she fell! Don't get her wrong she loved learning about magical art and making the broom was an interesting process though currently, they were only choosing what type of wood to make the handle and twigs and bindings out of. Apparently, the different types of wood had attributes that lead to a temperament of sort?! So far she had chosen vine and beech wood and hornbeam-hornbeam for the handle, beech for the twigs and vines inlaid in bronze to connect the two.

Choosing the wood was easy, making the broom the easiest, imbuing the broom with magic so it could fly? Hard. Though the professor was around to help you. Holding her wand in hand she pointed it at the broom she had made and muttered the incantation the professor had taught them for imbuing the broom with magic and flight.

"Perfect Miss Granger. Off you go with your broom. Next class, I'll be teaching you how to fly with them. You have free time for the rest of the class." The professor said.

Hermione grinned and headed off towards the library in the 20 minutes she had before lunch.

Lunch was almost always a noisy affair with friends sitting together at tables laughing. It didn't matter which tower you were sorted into the houses were only where you slept- though Hermione had heard rumors from Phaet that there would be competitions between houses. Hermione hoped the competitions didn't ruin what friendships she had. Sylvia and Meisa were her two closest friends and one of them was in a separate house. Neville, Vlad, and Zarya were all in different towers as well- North, South, and South respectively. Phaet, Anahita and Vivvie(the house-elf also in their dorm)where acquaintances and Malfoy hung around the edges as most people here didn't care for the fact that his father was rich or that his mother had used the school as her charitable deed for the month. His need for friendly companionship forced him to at least be quiet about any prejudice he might have against any in their friend group. So Hermione supposed he was tolerable and Meisa preached acceptance and positive influences.

The cafeteria was also the best place to talk or sign as Anahita was wont to do these days. Mealtimes -though noisy -was when the entire group was in a single place at a single time.

Hermione loved being able to talk about the new magic they were learning and homework that had been assigned. She hadn't exactly been able to do this in her old school. It was a nice change and Hermione hoped that it would last.

She could chatter to Meisa about how horrible the running in self-defense was- though it was getting better slowly. Or ask Phaet- or Malfoy if she was desperate- for help with Etiquette. Or talk to Vlad about Defense tactics or joke with Neville about Herbology. Though currently, she was begging Phaet to quiz her on Etiquette as they had a test coming up in that class next period and Phaet was always so elegant and poised. The test was on invitations and greetings- the class was building up to hosting a party- the next weeks would be about place settings and rules for seating guests. Hermione was nervous- she was polite and well-mannered but there were so many small rules. Hence why she was blabbing about how she needed to do well and needed Phaet to quiz her because otherwise, she would fail and if she fails then she would have to…

Phaet cut her off, holding up one hand with an imperious air. "I'll help. Mon Dieu. Desperation is not a good look on you." She paused. "So what do you want me to quiz you on? And don't say everything 'Mione!"

"But... "

"We have thirty minutes before we have to head to Etiquette. Either invitations or greetings."

"Well, greetings probably." Hermione conceded.

"Great. We'll start easy: How do you properly greet a person of unknown status compared to your own?"

During the free period after Etiquette, Hermione spent her free period with running laps around the field on the lower level of the school. Meisa and Neville ran next to her while Vlad and Sylvia ran ahead sometimes running back to call encouragements. Hermione was starting to hate how much stamina the two seemed to show. Phaet was painting her nails in the middle of the field while Draco sprawled nearby doing homework occasionally looking up to watch and Zarya flew easy laps in the air above them.

"One more lap!" Vlad called.

"Then core! Then we're done! You can relax and watch Phaet and Draco." Sylvia added.

Hermione would have groaned if she had the breath or the energy to spare. It had been Meisa's idea to improve their physical strength to help them with their defense classes and mainly Self-Defense. So far Professor Zachar was still covering dangerous magical creatures and how to defend against them. So every free period they had they split time between the library researching for whatever homework assignments they had and at the field running perimeters.

Hermione tried to ignore the cramp in her sides as she ran, after all, Sylvia and Vlad didn't seem to have this problem and she didn't want to complain. This was the fourth time they had done this. She was still grateful once she had finished her last lap and flopped down bonelessly.

"One minute of crunches. Then one-minute push-up hold." Sylvia said as she sat down nearby.

Afterwards, Hermione lay on her stomach and watched as Draco and Phaet ran three laps. She knew she should be doing homework they had an essay due in Charms and they had a quiz on the ingredients they had covered so far. With a sigh, she looked down at her paper 'The Theory and History of Wingardium Leviosa'. Reaching for her bag she dug out the book on spell history she had found in the library and thanked the gods that there were spells that kept the air breathable and the ground clear of snow. Though there was still a chill in the air and every once in awhile the teachers summoned snow so that it wasn't monotonous. Today though wasn't one of the snowy days and the ground was clear and hard-packed enough that Hermione could write on it. Taking out one of her quills- she liked them far more than pens she started writing her essay. It was harder than it would have been if she had been allowed to just quote the textbooks after switching around a few words to get away with plagiarism but the teachers had put a stop to that almost immediately.

'If I wanted to read the textbook I would have gone to the library. I want to see what you make of how different countries and time periods treated muggle-borns.' 'I gave you a passing grade on your essay because it is technically correct; but I'll need more originality, learn to make jumps in between knowledge.' 'Correct, but I'm afraid that just copying the properties down doesn't help you know them. For example, you could double the potency if you diced instead of sliced.' 'I didn't ask for two feet of the textbook and random information tangentially related to the subject of vampires . I asked for one foot on vampires and how to defend against them.'

All of her teachers who had assigned essays or homework had given her passing grades and variants of the same lecture during her first week. By the second week, Hermione was still struggling to get out of the habit she had formed of regurgitating from the textbook. She hadn't had this problem in primary school! She had been getting the answers passably correct- why did her teachers have to push her to do better!? Sure they did it to everyone but still why couldn't they have been fine with mediocrity! Hermione hated thinking it but academically competitive as she was she hated being pushed out of her comfort zone when she felt she had been doing a good enough job. She had thought those earlier essays would have gotten O's or at least A's.

Staring down at her still blank parchment Hermione sighed and started to write. Hopefully, she could finish the introduction and start on the first paragraph before they were done.

A/N Sorry for the wait and short chapter. Hope you enjoy.