Chapter 10
The Map
Once again, Hermione found herself awake before Li, Mandy, and Padma. When she had dressed and packed her bag, she went down to the common room. Hermione checked the grandfather clock and saw it was six-thirty. She took a seat on a couch with a coffee table in front of it. She pulled out the page of student information she'd skimmed through on Monday, reading it thoroughly this time. Near the bottom of the page, it mentioned the location of the school store. Hermione left the tower, and headed for the second floor of the main castle. It took some searching, but she found it before the start of breakfast.
A large alcove held shelves and racks full of different items a Hogwarts student might need or want. Hermione easily located the things she came for, but she also saw scarves, socks, and pajamas in the four houses' colors, as well as toothpaste, soap, and other basic toiletries. One shelf held snack-foods with names that were unfamiliar to Hermione, such as 'Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans', 'Pumpkin Pasties', and 'Droobles Best Blowing Gum'.
"Four galleons?" Hermione thought incredulously, as she examined the price tag on a pair of blue silk pajamas with a bronze eagle on the back of the shirt, and on the thigh of the pants, "Seems a bit steep."
After checking the prices of the supplies she needed, Hermione determined that with one galleon she could afford four bottles of ink, a pair of small quills, and a three-foot roll of parchment. A tired looking, fourth-year Slytherin girl sat on a stool behind a counter near the back of the alcove. She took Hermione's coin and gave her a single knut back as change.
Hermione looked at the small bronze coin, the last of her Wizarding currency. She thought of her plans to earn more money, and wondered if they would work. Then, she put the coin in her pocket, carefully packed her bottle of ink and other new supplies into her bag, and then headed to breakfast.
The ceiling of the Great Hall showed the sky outside to be a solid mass of dark grey clouds. The rain had stopped for now, but it looked as though it could start again at any moment. Li sat at the Ravenclaw table drinking a cup of coffee, looking groggy.
Hermione cautiously set her bag on the bench beside her as she sat down, worried about the bottle of ink somehow breaking and ruining her books.
Li looked at her with bleary eyes and asked,
"Did you do any of the homework last night? You went to bed before we even started the D.A.D.A. essay."
"I'll do it during study hall," Hermione said dismissively, loading bacon and eggs onto her plate.
A light rain had begun to fall by the time they made their way out of the castle. Seeing no one outside as they approached, Hermione and Li went directly into greenhouse two. Neville waited near the entrance, looking eager.
As Li wiped her glasses dry, and Hermione shook water droplets off her robes and bag, Neville came close and loudly whispered, "Hey, I started working on the map."
Hermione, who had been thinking about next year's tuition, blinked a few times before saying, "Oh, right, that's great Neville. Can I see it?"
Li ignored them, focused on her glasses which she could not get unfogged. As she tried to find a dry patch on her robes to properly clear them, Hermione and Neville stepped into the corner of the greenhouse. Neville pulled a roll of parchment from his bag and unrolled it for her to see.
It wasn't as large in dimension as Hermione had hoped, but she thought she could find a solution to that problem. It also had very little detail so far. Neville had copied the map of simple lines and squares provided by the school, but beyond labeling the buildings with miniscule lettering, the only additions he had made were centered around Gryffindor Tower and the Great Hall.
He'd added the four house tables and the staff table in beautiful detail, including dishes, floating candles, and the carpet that ran down the center of the room between the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Each table had been labeled in Neville's careful handwriting. The main castle, all three towers, and the Enchanting Building had also been labeled with larger lettering, and at the top of the map, Neville had written Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
On the circle that represented Gryffindor Tower, Neville had drawn a meticulously detailed common room that seemed similar to Hermione's. He'd added a stone wall rising from the back of the circle so he could show a pair of fireplaces, clocks, and a miniature Gryffindor banner. His style gave the tower a slightly three dimensional appearance, and from where he'd begun to add detail to the wall surrounding the castle, Hermione could tell this map would eventually be a work of art.
"Incredible!" Hermione told him, and Neville beamed.
When she asked to borrow it for the night, he frowned, and said, "But I've barely started. It will take me months to get even half of the wall filled in, then there's adding dimension and shading to the buildings. And -"
Hermione interrupted him, "Just for tonight. If my spell doesn't work I'll give it right back, but I might be able to save you a lot of work."
"Okay," Neville said hesitantly, "But you're still going to help me with Transfiguration during study hall, right?"
Inwardly, Hermione chided herself for her forgetfulness, then said, "Of course!"
Neville handed her the roll of parchment and Hermione carefully placed it in a pocket of her bag. Already thinking of a list of spells to perform on the map.
Their Herbology lesson passed uneventfully, Neville, Li, and Hermione identified even more species than they had on Monday. This was helped by the fact that Hermione offered to be their group's scribe, writing down the name of each species. She used a pen, and pointed out to her friends how much faster and less messy a muggle quill could be.
The bait worked, Neville asking if she had more of the writing devices, and Li took the pen from Hermione to draw a line on her hand, looking intrigued.
"I only have a couple of extras… But maybe I could sell one to you," Hermione tried to say this all with a nonchalant air, as if the idea had just occurred to her, but internally she felt both a sense of guilt for deceiving her only friends, and fear of not being able to buy more school supplies or afford tuition for her second year.
"Sure, how much," Neville asked, reaching for his bag.
Thinking of the prices in the school store, Hermione said, "Let's say five sickles?"
Neville pulled out a few gold coins and held one out, saying, "I don't have any sickles, just take a galleon."
Hermione only hesitated for a second before taking the gold, then she told them both, "I asked my parents to send me more writing supplies. If anyone asks about your pen, tell them they can buy one from me."
Li gave her a curious look before saying, "I'll take one, my money is in our dorm though, so I'll pay you later."
Hermione gave them both a pen and thought, "One and a half galleons, not a bad start."
The first-years left the greenhouses and walked across the wet grass back to the castle. It had stopped raining and the clouds had thinned, though no sun peeked through. They arrived at Charms, split into groups, and entered their respective classrooms. Professor Flitwick joined the Ravenclaws and Slytherins. He opened the cupboards and instructed them to collect a pillow. Then he opened another cupboard and used a wave of his wand to make ten large wooden hoops float out and spread through the room, hovering over their heads.
Hermione wondered if there was a different spell for levitating multiple objects, or if it just required more practice and skill. She also took note of the fact that Flitwick had uttered no incantation, not even mouthing a word, meaning saying the spells aloud might not be necessary.
Flitwick spoke to the group, his squeaky voice carrying over the low murmur of conversation, "Today we will be playing a game to help you gain more control over your spellwork."
The game involved navigating their pillows through a series of hoops, floating throughout the room. Flitwick demonstrated, quickly sending a pillow through the course two times, then told them to split into groups of five. Hermione, Li, Padma, Mandy, and Anthony Goldstein formed a group. As they waited for their turn, Hermione watched the first group try the aerial obstacle course. None could keep their pillows aloft long enough to get through more than the first three hoops.
The next group consisted of Terry Boot, Draco Malfoy, the enormous boy named Crabb, another large Slytherin boy whose name she thought was Goyle, and the very pretty Slytherin girl whose name Hermione still hadn't learned. Hermione wondered why Terry ended up in Ravenclaw if he was always spending time with Slytherins. The only one of their group that made it past the third hoop was Terry, who made it through the fifth hoop before his pillow dropped.
Hermione's group went next. Anthony and Mandy managed to get past the third hoop, Li and Padma both made it to the sixth. Hermione easily made it to the ninth hoop before her pillow began to wobble. Hermione clenched her wand tighter, narrowed her eyes in concentration, and willed the pillow through the last hoop before it flopped to the ground. A few of the Ravenclaws cheered, though Hermione saw that Terry looked resentful that she had outperformed him.
"I'm the one who taught him the spell in the first place," Hermione thought, "And now, what? He thinks he should be able to do more than me because I'm a muggle-born?"
At the end of the lesson, Hermione was irritated, and not particularly hungry. She decided to spend her lunch break in the library working on homework. She started her timeline for History of Magic and made some progress on her D.A.D.A essay. When the time for Potions came, Hermione reluctantly packed up and headed to the dungeon classroom.
Once they'd arrived and retrieved their cauldrons from the adjacent storage room, Snape spoke to the first-years through the enchanted mirror on his desk, "I will come around and collect your chapter summaries while you wash your hands and measure out the ingredients you will need for today's potion, a Sleeping Draft. Next Monday, we will test them on animals created by older Transfiguration students. The instructions for the Sleeping Draft can be found on pages fifty-nine through page sixty-one."
Hermione was the first to reach one of the stone basins, and once she'd washed her hands, she opened her book and began to pull out jars and containers with the needed ingredients inside, thinking about the ethics of testing potentially hazardous liquids on animals, even those created by magic.
Snape paused after collecting the homework from Hermione's table and in a contemptuous voice he asked Hermione, "What is this supposed to be?"
He set her summary back on the desk before her. Hermione had written it on standard sized, three-hole-punched paper, torn from the spiral edge of her notebook. It had not occurred to her that her homework would stand out, but it now seemed obvious.
"From now on, you will use a proper parchment and a quill to complete your homework in this class," Snape told her, grinning maliciously, "You will receive no credit for this chicken-scratch writing on flimsy, sub-par muggle paper."
With that, Snape moved to the next table. Hermione clenched her fists and scowled, but kept herself from saying anything to the Potions teacher. Not only would Hermione be getting no credit for her work, but she guessed Snape's rejection of her muggle writing supplies might discourage other students from trying out her pens, pencils, or the highlighters she'd asked her parents to send her.
Furious, Hermione forced herself to focus her attention on today's potion. The instructions were more complex, but by the end of the lesson, Hermione's potion had unnatural, zig-zagging lines of steam rising above its surface, just as her book specified. Snape, who observed their work through his mirror, said nothing, which Hermione assumed meant he could find nothing to criticize.
By the time she left the dungeon, Hermione had become sullen. She thought about the writing supplies she hoped to sell, and how Snape's reaction would bring an end to her plans. In contrast to her foul mood, the weather had continued to improve, weak sunlight sneaking through the thinning clouds and shining on the first-years as they crossed the courtyard between the main castle and the library. Hermione sat by Neville during study hall, quietly explaining the basics of Transfiguration as she understood them. By the end of fourth-period, Neville still seemed hopelessly lost, so Hermione stayed for another half an hour until she thought he had started to grasp the concepts they were discussing.
Hermione felt weary, but helping someone else had improved her mood. Neville had left with more bounce in his step, as prepared as he could be for their practical Transfiguration lesson the next day.
"I should go to the common room and do some homework," Hermione thought, knowing it would be irresponsible to let her workload pile up, even if the assignments were simple busy work.
She returned to Ravenclaw tower and found Li and Padma working at a table. Hermione joined them and grudgingly began to rewrite her D.A.D.A essay with one of her new quills. She made a mess of it, accidentally dripping ink onto the page several times. Her handwriting looked even worse with the quill than her normally messy scrawl. In the end, Hermione gave up, writing the rest of her essay with a ballpoint pen.
Tearing off the portion of parchment she'd ruined and throwing it into a fireplace, Hermione thought, "I'll keep practicing with the quill for Potions homework, but until the other teachers say something, I'm not conforming to their antiquated methods."
After catching up on her assignments, Hermione turned to Li and said, "I'm heading back to the library after I eat, you want to join me?"
Li shook her head, "I'd be on board with going this weekend, but I want to relax, we've still got two more days of classes before we get a day off."
Hermione shrugged and said, "Sure."
She had already decided to spend her weekend working on the map and trying new spells, but she assumed she would be taking a few trips to the library as part of that process. She went up to her dormitory to drop off most of her books, then Hermione headed to the Great Hall.
When she arrived, the doors were shut. Checking her watch, Hermione saw that dinner wouldn't start for another twenty minutes. Unwilling to wait, she set off towards the library, thinking of the map and ink she still carried in her bag.
Hermione reached the library and found a desk that had been tucked at the end of a shelf near one corner of the spacious room. From her bag Hermione pulled out the map, laying it on the desk. Neville had labeled the library in his precise, elegant handwriting, but otherwise had added no details to the mundane rectangle representing the building in which she stood.
Hermione checked the notes she had taken on the cartography spell, opened one of her new bottles of ink, and pulled her wand from her pocket. She made sure that the bottle of ink physically touched the parchment, then she found her current location on the map. Hermione filled her mind with images of the library's first floor, then tapped on a spot near the north-east corner of the map with the tip of her wand.
In response, many long tendrils of ink, each thinner than a strand of hair, rose up from the bottle, dancing above the map, creating a dozen complex patterns in less than a second. Then all at once, every line of ink dove towards the map. They wove about each other in a complex dance that left small bits of themselves behind, bleeding into the page with miniscule dashes and dots.
Once the last line of ink finished sinking into the parchment, Hermione examined the results. In perfect imitation of Neville's artistic style, the cartography spell had drawn each bookshelf, pillar, table, desk and chair of the library's first floor. Hermione also spotted impossibly small writing that she could only make out by putting her face close to the map and squinting. The tiny labels identified the different sections and categories of books on the various sets of shelves and pillars. The bathrooms had labels, as did the checkout counter and the stairs leading to the second floor.
The exterior of the building was hinted at with a few layers of stone blocks on the edge of the rectangle that represented the southern wall. It even had diminutive ivy vines spider-webbed across them. The drawing of the northern wall of the library rose higher, showing the height of the room and the small windows near the ceiling that let in light.
Energized by the beauty and effectiveness of her spellwork, Hermione quickly, but cautiously, packed up the map and ink. She headed for the second floor, and after finding another secluded desk, Hermione got her things out and repeated the process. Ink defied gravity and rose from the jar, but after it had drawn the second story of the building, Hermione realized her mistake. The spell had layered ink over the depiction of the first floor, creating a jumble of lines, circles, and tiny writing all overlapping.
Hermione stared at the mess of ink, a sense of defeat threatening to overwhelm her. She sat and felt sorry for herself but in the end, imagining Neville's disappointed face at hearing she'd ruined his map motivated Hermione to stand up and head back to the shelf where she had found the 'Cartography for the Modern Wizard'. Hermione's lack of friends never bothered her much, but now that she suddenly had two new friends, the idea of disappointing them worried her. Hermione pulled a few books off the shelf, sat on the floor, and began to search.
Several hours passed before Hermione found something. Three tall stacks of books stood around her as she sat cross-legged, staring at a page in 'Architecture of Venice'. The book discussed the construction of a palace and a spell used to change which level was displayed on building plans. Unfortunately, it did not specify the incantation. Frustrated, Hermione left the library and went to the Great Hall in hopes there might still be some food. The ceiling showed thin, patchy clouds, the stars or moon occasionally visible as they moved across the sky. It was after eight o'clock, but a few students still sat chatting at a couple of the house tables. Hermione sat down, and to her great relief, a few sandwiches appeared on a platter. Beside the platter a bowl filled with crisps. Hermione gratefully bit into a sandwich and thought about her first three days at Hogwarts.
Classes had been simple so far, and Hermione could tell reading the entirety of her coursebooks had been unnecessary. Still, with the way Snape treated her, Hermione felt glad that he could not belittle her skill or intelligence, just her muggle upbringing. She thought of Margaret and realized the pain of losing her hurt less now. The companionship of Li and the kindness of Neville worked to soothe her loneliness and social anxieties.
Bitterly, Hermione thought "I wish Terry hadn't ended up being such a pratt. He seems clever and charming, but obviously he cares more about being a pure-blood than being a decent person."
Hermione ate three sandwiches, many handfuls of crisps, and drained a couple goblets of water before returning to Ravenclaw Tower. She arrived just before curfew and walked past Professor Flitwick as she entered the common room. Li was waiting for her when she got up to their room, sitting cross-legged on her bed with a worried expression on her face.
"Where have you been?" She demanded, standing and putting her hands on her hips.
Grinning at the sight of Li, who stood a head shorter than Hermione, looking cross and surprisingly formidable, she answered, "Just getting some late dinner, sorry mum."
Li rolled her eyes and said, "Very funny, you didn't show up for dinner, I was worried you got lost."
"Sorry," Hermione said, "I'm not used to people worrying much about where I am. I was in the library but I wasn't in an easy to spot place."
Li, still looking concerned, said, "Well, I have those coins for you."
She tossed five sickles onto Hermione's bed. With a sigh, Hermione collected the coins and sat on her bed, feeling discouraged.
Li sat beside her and cautiously asked, "Why is selling these pen devices so important, I can tell it matters to you."
Hermione shook her head and told Li, "There's no point now. Snape wouldn't even accept my homework because it was done with muggle supplies. No one will want to buy one now."
"Actually, Snape being against them could be a great selling point, he's not well liked by anyone but the Slytherins," Li said encouragingly, then her tone became more serious, "That's beside the point though, why do you need to sell them? What's the money for?"
Hermione sighed again and explained that she had been given free tuition for her first year. She continued explaining about her father and his aversion to spending money. After that, Hermione found herself telling Li everything about receiving her letter to Hogwarts and her falling out with Margaret. It felt so good to say it all out loud, and Li listened patiently.
"Alright," Li said when Hermione had told her the entire story, "I'll help find you customers. You're coming to Hogwarts next year even if I have to make my brother pay for it. He's working as a cultural ambassador for the Ministry of Magic, so he can afford it."
Tears swelled in Hermione's eyes and her throat felt too tight to speak, but she leaned over and hugged Li as tightly as she could, conveying her appreciation without words. After that, Hermione showed Li the map Neville had drawn and the problem she had run into while using the cartography spell. Li did not have any solutions, but Hermione still enjoyed talking with her about it. Tired from another long day, Hermione started getting ready for bed before ten o'clock.
As she brushed her teeth, Li commented, "I wish I could go to bed early like you, maybe I should have kept a bit of your Sleeping Draft to help me drift off."
"I guess you're just a night-owl, Li," Hermione said jokingly as she pulled on her pajamas.
Li threw a pillow at her but laughed and said, "Get to sleep bushy-hair, don't they say the early squirrel gets the book or something like that?"
Hermione laughed, threw the pillow back at Li, and crawled into bed. She smiled as she closed the curtains around her bed. Tonight her dormitory, Ravenclaw Tower, and the whole castle felt a little more like home.
When she got out of bed the next morning, the other girls still slept, their curtains drawn shut. Hermione packed her bag and crept out of the common room before the sun had finished rising, something she seemed to be making a habit of. The castle was quiet, few students or staff out this time of the morning. Hermione loved her new friends, but the quiet solitude of the castle gave her time to clear her mind, helping prepare her for the coming day.
Hermione knew the library would not open for a while, so she decided to work on the map. The library was still a mess of overlapping lines and words, but the stormy weather had passed so she decided to try taking a walk around the Enchanting Building which had only one floor. As she strolled, Hermione would occasionally pull the map from her bag, open her ink bottle, and cast the Cartography Spell. It worked magnificently, filling in each of the building's four rooms with exquisite detail. Mirrored walls, the wooden floors with grid lines, and even miniscule labels detailing the contents of the cabinets in each room. The spell also filled in a section of the castle's outer wall that ran past the Enchanting Building.
Hermione continued her walk staying close to the outer wall. Every hundred meters or so, she would stop and cast her spell. The first of Hermione's ink bottles was empty by the time she reached the base of Gryffindor Tower. Hermione had only brought one bottle, so she put the map away, and gazed up at the tall stone building. A turret near the tower's peak caught her eye. It looked too small to contain more than one room, making Hermione think of the secret room she sought at the peak of her own house's tower.
A question occurred to Hermione as she peered upward, "How old is the astronomy tower? Is it possible the poem is referring to Gryffindor Tower?"
Making a mental note to look into that line of thought, Hermione headed towards the Great Hall. When she arrived, she took some buttered toast, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and bacon. With these basic ingredients she assembled four breakfast sandwiches. She ate one, then pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, wrapped the sandwiches up, and headed for the library. She had no plans of eating in the library. There were signs on each desk, and on the end of many shelves, reminding students of the library's rules.
"NO WRITING ON, BENDING, OR TEARING PAGES, ANY DAMAGE TO BOOKS IS A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE
NO FOOD OR DRINKS
NO MAGIC
NO LOUD TALKING OR MUSIC
RETURN BOOKS TO THE SHELF ON WHICH THEY WERE FOUND"
Having already broken the rule about not using magic in the library, Hermione planned on following the rest of them, but she wanted to have food on hand for the afternoon. If she couldn't find the spell for displaying multiple floors before classes, Hermione planned to return to the library during lunch to continue her search.
Once the doors had been unlocked by a librarian in their purple robes, Hermione headed inside and back to the section she'd been searching the day before. She had discovered nothing useful by the time she needed to head to History of Magic. Hermione felt like time slowed for the duration of her morning lessons, each minute seeming to last far too long, as if the room's clock had been bewitched.
Finally, Quirrell excused them for lunch and Hermione headed straight for the library, eating one of her sandwiches as she walked. As she entered the ivy-covered building, Hermione spotted the white haired librarian she had met on her first day. Hermione hurried over and waited while the elderly woman had a quiet conversation with a younger male librarian.
When the man in purple robes walked off, Hermione said, "Hello, I didn't catch your name the other day, but I'm Hermione. Could I get your help finding something again."
The woman turned her bright blue eyes on Hermione, giving her a penetrating stare before her wrinkled face lit up with a smile, "Ah yes, the Ravenclaw girl. You can call me Madam Pince. But tell me, what did you think of the book I suggested?"
Hermione smiled back and said, "It was very informative, thank you."
Forgetting for a moment about the problem of the map, Hermione asked, "Did you ever search for Rowena's room when you were at Hogwarts?"
"I did indeed," Madam Pince said with a nod, looking pleased, "Care to tell me what you've found?"
Hermione did want to tell her about the poem, but something held her back, a strange fear of this woman that she wasn't sure was her own.
Deciding to keep her knowledge of the poem secret for now, Hermione said, "Maybe another time. Right now I need to find a very specific spell."
Hermione briefly explained the problem, but when she'd finished, Madam Pince did not direct her to a section in the library or a particular book, instead she said, "Why waste all this time combing through books for one spell? Just do it yourself."
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Hermione said, giving Madam Pince a look of confusion that was a rare sight on Hermione's face.
"Make your own spell," Madam Pince explained, as if it should be obvious, "Even if you're not particularly intuitive, something as simple as displaying multiple floors on a map is manageable. This will be a good lesson for you."
Without further explanation, she turned and walked off. Hermione followed, not having to hurry to keep pace with the hunched woman's shuffling stride. Madam Pince led her up to the fourth floor and used her wand to retrieve a thick, leather-bound book from the top row of a shelf.
She handed it to Hermione and said, "Find me when you want to talk about the poem. I generally work the morning shift."
Then Madam Pince shuffled back over to the staircase, leaving Hermione holding the dusty tome titled, 'Spell-making'. Hermione checked her watch, and saw she still had an hour before Transfiguration, so she found a desk, set the heavy book down, and began to read.