Chapter 6 – 20 years ago at Hogwarts
"My dear students!" Albus Dumbledore said with a loud voice. "Before starting breakfast, I would like to remind you the last instructions for the Magical Wizardry Knowledge Contest, organized with the Superior School of Sorcery from Wichita Falls. As you all know, the event is coming nearer as it will happen in a week. Suggestions for the activities were finalized this last Friday with your Head Girl, Head Boy, and your teachers. Miss Evans, could you please come closer and tell us the last conclusions of the meeting?"
Lily, who tied her hair in a long ponytail which made her look stricter without downgrading her beauty, walked from the Gryffindor table towards the teachers' table with confidence. She held a parchment.
"Good morning everyone!" The Head Girl said with a clear voice. "The teachers, Chris and I chose the final program for this great event that, I am sure, you are all waiting. The timetables, as you could see, were pinned in all the Common Rooms. In the ideas that were selected, we decided to organize a treasure hunt and a Masked Ball. For this event, we invited the Pit Tigers to come and play their last hit songs."
At the name of the band, some teenagers screamed loudly. Evans wanted to go on with her speech, but some girls became hysterical. Among them, a blond girl fainted and fell on the floor. The band seemed to be very popular.
"Please, young ladies, be decent!" Professeur McGonagall cried out, exasperated, and got up to try to calm them down. "Miss Gully, please bring Miss Chains to the Hospital Wing!"
The students became silent and Lily could continue her speech.
"You will be able to find the complete program on the billboards. But I must remind you that we expect all students to well behave during these two weeks of competition. Although the goal of our school is to win this contest, the real objectives are the intercultural exchange, friendship and fun. Therefore, any direct attack on the opposite team will be punished. The prefects, Chris and I will be alert. For any claim, we are at your disposal. Thank you for your attention."
The young woman went back to her sit at the Gryffindor table with some applause.
"Thank you for your speech, Miss Evans," Dumbledore said. "I know that you are all eager to start your breakfast, however, I would like to do a last announcement. As some of you may have noticed, we welcomed a new student. Because of her long journey and her difficult arrival, I couldn't introduce her yesterday evening during dinner. Miss Stagent, could you please come here?" Dumbledore asked the question towards a door on his right side.
The door opened and some students raised their heads to have a look at the young woman who was coming in the Great Hall. Some girls laughed when they saw her haircut: she had mid-length bushy thick brown hair. She seemed to come from an unsteady Charms class. Other students didn't care about her arrival and were gossiping about the last couple of the week. Some boys, on the other hand, were interested in the new student and looked at her with greed. Even with her scruffy look, she was quite pretty.
Hermione just had a look at the Great Hall. She was already tired of all this masquerade and wanted to sit down rapidly on the first sit to hide behind a bowl of cereals. This morning, she found a note on her table that asked her to go directly in the room next to the Great Hall. She waited over there, annoyed. She didn't want to have a quiet school life while she needed to do a lot of research on Time Turners. She had wanted to go to the Library since she was awakened.
"I would like to introduce Hermione Stagent." Dumbledore said. "Miss Stagent is from England but she studied at Beauxbâtons, the prestigious French wizardry school because her parents used to work in France. However, they came back in Great Britain for business reasons and their daughter just followed them. She had to find a new school and it is with great pleasure that she chose Hogwarts. I didn't want to bother you with the Sorting Hat ceremony, we did it in private and Miss Stagent has been sorted into Gryffindor for her seventh grade. Please welcome her with the same kindness and enthusiasm as the teachers and I did. Welcome to you, Miss Stagent!"
The teachers applauded. Some students followed and applauded as well but most of them weren't paying attention to the Headmaster's speech anymore and were talking or eagerly waiting for their breakfast.
"Please have a sit! We will start eating!"
While Hermione was heading to the Gryffindor table, food appeared and almost everyone forgot about the new student. Hermione was relieved. Indeed, she didn't like to be the centre of attention, except if she answered to a school question. Her cheeks and ears were burning, and she longed for disappearing in the crowd of students. Her eyes caught an arisen hand among the Gryffindors, and she looked at the owner: a handsome young man with mid-length dark hair, with a big smile. He proposed to come and sit down next to him. But she frowned and went her way without stopping. She found a sit between a red hair young boy and another one with glasses, cinq metres away.
She took some toasts and start eating. The people next to her didn't dare talking to her or asking any questions, even if they were curious. Hermione ate with so much energy and tension that no one didn't want to get close to her. She devoured her breakfast and started to get up when someone engaged the discussion behind her.
"Did you sleep well?"
Hermione turned back and noticed Lily, with the two young men she saw yesterday at Dumbledore's office, another one with brown hair and dark circles under his eyes and for her great displeasure, Sirius Black.
"Yes, thank you." She answered simply.
"Here is James Potter, chaser and captain of the Quidditch team from Gryffindor. And for your info, he's my boyfriend!" Lily replied designating the tousled-haired boy. James, with a possessive sign of affection, put his arm around her waist. "I guess you met him in Dumbledore's office, right?"
"Indeed!"
Hermione couldn't help herself watching closely her best friend's father. She was struck by James's similarity with Harry. He looked like him except he didn't have the same green eyes as his son and didn't wear any glasses. As many people told Harry, he had the eyes of his mother, Lily. Hermione could finally confirm it was true.
"And here is Peter Pettigrew!"
She stared at Peter for a few seconds, frowning. She remembered well her first encounter with him in her third grade. He didn't look like the Peter she met at that time because he spent 13 years of his life as a rat and inherited some features. However, today, or rather twenty years back, he was better looking: he was blond with blue-greyish eyes, he seemed sick and slightly chubby, but he was rather cute in his own way. But even with his angel look-alike, Hermione wanted to tell him what she thought about him, but she couldn't: she promised Dumbledore she wouldn't reveal anything related to the future. So, she just stared at him with a murderous look. Peter, stunned by her strong hostility, backed off a little bit but didn't say anything.
"You already know Sirius Black, right? I think you two had the pleasure to meet!"
"You're kidding…" Hermione mumbled.
"What did you say, love?" Sirius said with a big smile.
She ignored his comment to look at the fourth young man with short brown hair. He looked very tired but had an aware and clever eye. She saw his prefect badge pinned on his robe.
"And here you have…" Lily started to say.
"Remus Lupin!" Hermione finished.
