"What are you looking at?" asked Eileen pointedly.
Hermione had been staring at Eileen all breakfast. "Nothing," Hermione muttered. She stirred her cereal again, to make it look like it was, at least partially, eaten. She wasn't hungry. Still, she didn't want her mom to feel bad. Her mother seemed like the kind of person who would take that kind of thing personally.
It was no use. "Hermione, dear," her mother cried, "you haven't eaten a bite this morning. I worry about you. You're skin and bone!"
"No, I'm not! Look at my thighs! My butt's like, huge!"
"You look fine, hon. Now if you don't feel like eating anything at home, here's a twenty. You and your sister can go out for lunch. It looks like some bonding time is in order." She winked, then gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek. "I've got to get to the office by nine, and I won't be back till four...oh, you know that already. Don't worry, this is my last day of work before Christmas break. Take care of each other." After taking a moment to put on her jacket, she seized her suitcase and was gone.
As soon as the door shut, Hermione turned to Eileen. There was no point in beating around the bush. "What were you doing last night?"
Eileen put on an innocent face. "Showering, why?"
'Those eyes. That face. If I hadn't seen her, I could have sworn that she was telling the truth. But I did,' thought Hermione. ' I saw that light last night. And nothing she says or does can change that.' "You know what I mean. It's not showering."
"After I showered, I went to sleep. Okay, maybe I read a bit. Is it really necessary for you to know all of my business?" Eileen's voice had a warning tone to it, a tone that Hermione didn't like.
"I saw..."Hermione began hesitantly, "I saw what you were doing last night. I know about the green light."
"Do you?" Eileen retorted, her face devoid of emotion. She stood up from the table, and Hermione did the same.
"I do," declared Hermione, trying to get the same kind of authority into her voice as Eileen seemed to naturally have in hers. "Now tell me what it was."
A queer smile flickered across Eileen's face. "Do you really want to know?" She took a few slow steps toward Hermione. Hermione, instinctively, inched backwards.
"Er...yeah," Hermione's voice wavered more than a little.
Eileen laughed mirthlessly. "Ever since you started leaving your old textbooks at home, I've been teaching myself spells. Reading about your wizarding culture. Quite interesting, really. One of my many hobbies. I knew you'd figure it out eventually. Aren't you clever?"
Hermione tried to look composed, but things weren't fitting together. This wasn't right. "But we...we never learned any spells that produced that...that green. And, how did you get the ingredients to make potions? You don't have a wand, either. Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts, too?"
Eileen patted Hermione on the head. It was irritating to Hermione. First of all, they were the same height. Second of all, she was older, she should be doing the head patting. Hermione pulled away, and Eileen grinned.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about that,"
****
It was twelve at night. Again, Hermione couldn't sleep. Too much had happened that day. After that conversation, she and her sister had proceeded to take the town by storm. They had lunched at Yossarian's, the best sandwich place around, and Eileen gave her a walking tour of their hometown. On the way they met many of Eileen's friends, who were happy to help out.
It was a funny thing. Eileen seemed to be really popular. And no wonder, with the way she was that day. She was cheerful, talkative, happy-go-lucky, everybody's best friend. Her humor did have a dark streak, but that didn't seem to bother anybody. Furthermore, she was a vegetarian, which for some reason shocked Hermione. Perhaps because she didn't seem to be the kind of person who would be overly concerned with the rights of animals. Or those of people, for that matter.
Hermione silently got to her feet. She crept downstairs, then down, down to the basement. She walked over to a small wooden cage that was hanging from a coathanger in a corner. "Hey, Winster," she whispered.
Winster, whose proper name was Wistera, was a small grey owl, who Hermione had acquired the year before. Though she was not much bigger than Pidgewidgeon, Hermione liked to think that Winster was a bit more reliable than Pig.
"I've got something for you," Hermione cooed. After opening the cage, she tied a piece of parchment to one of Winster's legs.
Winster looked happy to have a chance to spread out her wings. She began hopping about and making joyful sounds.
"Shhhh! You've got be quiet!" Hermione reprimanded. "Now, you've got to remember to be careful. That's a very important message you're carrying."
Hermione opened a basement window with some difficulty. The owl darted out of it as fast as her little wings could carry her. Cawing loudly, Winster flew off into the darkness.
****
News travels fast in the wizarding world. Of course, it's who you are, and whether you know where to look that decides whether you know what's going on or not. About ten or fifteen Hogwarts students knew already that something different was going to happen at the first dinner after holiday break. Among them were Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy.
Harry Potter was not in on the secret. But he already suspected something fishy was going on. He hadn't seen Hermione all day. He knew she had gone home for the holidays, but everyone who'd left was already back and sitting at their accustomed tables.
Ron was just arriving. "Have I missed..." he looked around, a toothy grin on his freckled face. "I guess not." he finished.
"Have you seen Hermione?"
"Nope, you?"
Harry's answer was a low grown.
"You're so possessive! She'll come around." Ron was unaccountably giddy, which was annoying Harry considerably.
"Hermione is our FRIEND. FRIENDS worry about FRIENDS."
"Don't fret. She's..." his voice trailed off.
"Right over there!" declared Seamus Finnigan, who was sitting in the seat next to Ron.
Seamus was right. There was Hermione, standing next to a girl none of them had ever seen before, who was next to Dumbledore, who looked set to make an announcement.
"Greetings, students," he said, "I hope you are all looking forward to another calendar year of education in the fine art of magic. Today I have the unique pleasure of introducing a new student to our ranks. Students and staff of Hogwarts, allow me to introduce you to Eileen Artemis Granger!"
A round of perplexed applause filled the hall. This had never happened before, at least in any of the students time at Hogwarts. "Although she was identified and enrolled later than is customary here, she is more than prepared to enter with the students her age. She is fourteen, so, customarily, she should be in the middle of her fourth year. However, her independent studies have carried her further than the Fourth year curriculum. She will be entering Hogwarts as a Fifth year."
The students did not even attempt to applaud now. They waited, in rapt silence. "Enough with these dull formalities," cried Dumbledore suddenly, "she'll now be Sorted. Then we can eat."
The Sorting Hat was produced. Ron leaned over and whispered to Harry: "Isn't it great that Hermione's sister is going to be a fifth year. Ginny'll be able to show her the ropes, eh?"
But Harry wasn't listening. He was gawking bold-facedly at Eileen. Did he know her from somewhere? Eileen, who had been staring into space since she arrived, had just made eye contact with him. Was it his imagination? No, he decided. She had smiled, a tiny, ominous, Mona Lisa smile.
Creepy. He distracted himself by eyeing Hermione. She looked awful. Her looseish mahogany curls were frizzy, and her eyes were bleary and dim. She wore a well-worn deep purple cloak from last year. 'Pity,' thought Harry, rather unsympathetically, 'she can be awfully beautiful when she wants to be.'
Next to Harry, Ron and Seamus were tittering excitedly. "What's taking so long?" complained Seamus. "That thing's been on her head for almost a minute."
"It's probably 'cos she's so old," decided Ron, "much more going on her attic then a ten year old would have."
"I guess,"
"What do you think she'll be?"
"Gryffidor, probably. Maybe Ravenclaw."
But the hat finally had its answer. "SLYTHERIN!" it shouted.
A/N: Shocking, huh? I was thinking of putting her in Hufflepuff (another unconventional house), but Eileen isn't quite the Hufflepuff....type. I am ever so sad...nobody picked up the significance of my fanfiction. net name. You know Eleanor Rigby, right? The song? "Paul McCartney's magnificent two-minute meditation on loneliness"? Does no one here love the Beatles? Go download it, right now! Or buy that red "1" CD or something. Sorry. And no, I am not OLD! I just like old music, is all! Er...Anyway, all this is set-up, basically. It gets juicy in the next chapter. So, if you've read up to here...again thanks.... and REVIEW!!! Oh, and you know all the stuff that belongs to JK Rowling, right?
Hermione had been staring at Eileen all breakfast. "Nothing," Hermione muttered. She stirred her cereal again, to make it look like it was, at least partially, eaten. She wasn't hungry. Still, she didn't want her mom to feel bad. Her mother seemed like the kind of person who would take that kind of thing personally.
It was no use. "Hermione, dear," her mother cried, "you haven't eaten a bite this morning. I worry about you. You're skin and bone!"
"No, I'm not! Look at my thighs! My butt's like, huge!"
"You look fine, hon. Now if you don't feel like eating anything at home, here's a twenty. You and your sister can go out for lunch. It looks like some bonding time is in order." She winked, then gave Hermione a kiss on the cheek. "I've got to get to the office by nine, and I won't be back till four...oh, you know that already. Don't worry, this is my last day of work before Christmas break. Take care of each other." After taking a moment to put on her jacket, she seized her suitcase and was gone.
As soon as the door shut, Hermione turned to Eileen. There was no point in beating around the bush. "What were you doing last night?"
Eileen put on an innocent face. "Showering, why?"
'Those eyes. That face. If I hadn't seen her, I could have sworn that she was telling the truth. But I did,' thought Hermione. ' I saw that light last night. And nothing she says or does can change that.' "You know what I mean. It's not showering."
"After I showered, I went to sleep. Okay, maybe I read a bit. Is it really necessary for you to know all of my business?" Eileen's voice had a warning tone to it, a tone that Hermione didn't like.
"I saw..."Hermione began hesitantly, "I saw what you were doing last night. I know about the green light."
"Do you?" Eileen retorted, her face devoid of emotion. She stood up from the table, and Hermione did the same.
"I do," declared Hermione, trying to get the same kind of authority into her voice as Eileen seemed to naturally have in hers. "Now tell me what it was."
A queer smile flickered across Eileen's face. "Do you really want to know?" She took a few slow steps toward Hermione. Hermione, instinctively, inched backwards.
"Er...yeah," Hermione's voice wavered more than a little.
Eileen laughed mirthlessly. "Ever since you started leaving your old textbooks at home, I've been teaching myself spells. Reading about your wizarding culture. Quite interesting, really. One of my many hobbies. I knew you'd figure it out eventually. Aren't you clever?"
Hermione tried to look composed, but things weren't fitting together. This wasn't right. "But we...we never learned any spells that produced that...that green. And, how did you get the ingredients to make potions? You don't have a wand, either. Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts, too?"
Eileen patted Hermione on the head. It was irritating to Hermione. First of all, they were the same height. Second of all, she was older, she should be doing the head patting. Hermione pulled away, and Eileen grinned.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about that,"
****
It was twelve at night. Again, Hermione couldn't sleep. Too much had happened that day. After that conversation, she and her sister had proceeded to take the town by storm. They had lunched at Yossarian's, the best sandwich place around, and Eileen gave her a walking tour of their hometown. On the way they met many of Eileen's friends, who were happy to help out.
It was a funny thing. Eileen seemed to be really popular. And no wonder, with the way she was that day. She was cheerful, talkative, happy-go-lucky, everybody's best friend. Her humor did have a dark streak, but that didn't seem to bother anybody. Furthermore, she was a vegetarian, which for some reason shocked Hermione. Perhaps because she didn't seem to be the kind of person who would be overly concerned with the rights of animals. Or those of people, for that matter.
Hermione silently got to her feet. She crept downstairs, then down, down to the basement. She walked over to a small wooden cage that was hanging from a coathanger in a corner. "Hey, Winster," she whispered.
Winster, whose proper name was Wistera, was a small grey owl, who Hermione had acquired the year before. Though she was not much bigger than Pidgewidgeon, Hermione liked to think that Winster was a bit more reliable than Pig.
"I've got something for you," Hermione cooed. After opening the cage, she tied a piece of parchment to one of Winster's legs.
Winster looked happy to have a chance to spread out her wings. She began hopping about and making joyful sounds.
"Shhhh! You've got be quiet!" Hermione reprimanded. "Now, you've got to remember to be careful. That's a very important message you're carrying."
Hermione opened a basement window with some difficulty. The owl darted out of it as fast as her little wings could carry her. Cawing loudly, Winster flew off into the darkness.
****
News travels fast in the wizarding world. Of course, it's who you are, and whether you know where to look that decides whether you know what's going on or not. About ten or fifteen Hogwarts students knew already that something different was going to happen at the first dinner after holiday break. Among them were Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy.
Harry Potter was not in on the secret. But he already suspected something fishy was going on. He hadn't seen Hermione all day. He knew she had gone home for the holidays, but everyone who'd left was already back and sitting at their accustomed tables.
Ron was just arriving. "Have I missed..." he looked around, a toothy grin on his freckled face. "I guess not." he finished.
"Have you seen Hermione?"
"Nope, you?"
Harry's answer was a low grown.
"You're so possessive! She'll come around." Ron was unaccountably giddy, which was annoying Harry considerably.
"Hermione is our FRIEND. FRIENDS worry about FRIENDS."
"Don't fret. She's..." his voice trailed off.
"Right over there!" declared Seamus Finnigan, who was sitting in the seat next to Ron.
Seamus was right. There was Hermione, standing next to a girl none of them had ever seen before, who was next to Dumbledore, who looked set to make an announcement.
"Greetings, students," he said, "I hope you are all looking forward to another calendar year of education in the fine art of magic. Today I have the unique pleasure of introducing a new student to our ranks. Students and staff of Hogwarts, allow me to introduce you to Eileen Artemis Granger!"
A round of perplexed applause filled the hall. This had never happened before, at least in any of the students time at Hogwarts. "Although she was identified and enrolled later than is customary here, she is more than prepared to enter with the students her age. She is fourteen, so, customarily, she should be in the middle of her fourth year. However, her independent studies have carried her further than the Fourth year curriculum. She will be entering Hogwarts as a Fifth year."
The students did not even attempt to applaud now. They waited, in rapt silence. "Enough with these dull formalities," cried Dumbledore suddenly, "she'll now be Sorted. Then we can eat."
The Sorting Hat was produced. Ron leaned over and whispered to Harry: "Isn't it great that Hermione's sister is going to be a fifth year. Ginny'll be able to show her the ropes, eh?"
But Harry wasn't listening. He was gawking bold-facedly at Eileen. Did he know her from somewhere? Eileen, who had been staring into space since she arrived, had just made eye contact with him. Was it his imagination? No, he decided. She had smiled, a tiny, ominous, Mona Lisa smile.
Creepy. He distracted himself by eyeing Hermione. She looked awful. Her looseish mahogany curls were frizzy, and her eyes were bleary and dim. She wore a well-worn deep purple cloak from last year. 'Pity,' thought Harry, rather unsympathetically, 'she can be awfully beautiful when she wants to be.'
Next to Harry, Ron and Seamus were tittering excitedly. "What's taking so long?" complained Seamus. "That thing's been on her head for almost a minute."
"It's probably 'cos she's so old," decided Ron, "much more going on her attic then a ten year old would have."
"I guess,"
"What do you think she'll be?"
"Gryffidor, probably. Maybe Ravenclaw."
But the hat finally had its answer. "SLYTHERIN!" it shouted.
A/N: Shocking, huh? I was thinking of putting her in Hufflepuff (another unconventional house), but Eileen isn't quite the Hufflepuff....type. I am ever so sad...nobody picked up the significance of my fanfiction. net name. You know Eleanor Rigby, right? The song? "Paul McCartney's magnificent two-minute meditation on loneliness"? Does no one here love the Beatles? Go download it, right now! Or buy that red "1" CD or something. Sorry. And no, I am not OLD! I just like old music, is all! Er...Anyway, all this is set-up, basically. It gets juicy in the next chapter. So, if you've read up to here...again thanks.... and REVIEW!!! Oh, and you know all the stuff that belongs to JK Rowling, right?