Chapter IV - Coping with Classes, Coping with Life

Hogwarts Castle was like nothing Hermiony had ever seen before. But it brought out the best in her. There were a hundred and forty-two staircases. Some led to places while others led to nowhere. Some changed on Fridays. Some had invisible steps. She memorized all of them by noting them during the day and then drawing maps at night while in the common room. She especially wanted to make sure that she did not need to ask for directions. Older students were helpful, as was Nearly-Headless Nick. But she learned not to ask Peeves or Argus Filch, the caretaker, who clearly did not like students. Neither did Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris who made Hermiony very nervous. Another thing she learned was not to use the first floor girls bathroom. A ghost named Moaning Myrtle, who was miserable all the time, talked about a girl named Olive Hornsby, and was offended by everything, haunted it. Often Myrtle would break down in tears and cause floods in the toilets.

While the castle was a completely new experience, classes were almost exactly the same as in her old school. There were some that were good, but some were quite terrible. Professor Binns, who taught history despite dying, was the most boring man she ever met. She desperately tried to pay attention to his droning, but was unable. After classes ended, she would go to the library, run by a nasty vulture-like librarian named Madame Pince, and read everything that Binns covered in class. She knew she was the only person in her class to do that, as the library was usually devoid of first years. Professor Quirrell, the Defense against the Dark Arts professor, was unable to impart anything. In fact he seemed to be afraid of his students. Some older students whispered that Defense against the Dark Arts professors rarely last the year. Potions was, without a doubt, the worst class. The professor, Severus Snape, was the head of the Slytherin House and hated all the Gryiffindors. And since it was a joint class with the Slytherin first years, it made the situation all the worse. Snape seemed to hate Hermiony for knowing all the answers, he hated Neville for not being the best student, but her really hated Harry even more just for existing. She could not understand it, especially since in Charms class, Professor Flitwick squealed when he called out Harry's name. In fact he was so excited, he fell off the pile of books he was standing on, as he was quite short. Hermiony liked Flitwick, and Charms quickly became a class to which she looked forward. Herbology was also not a bad class. Professor Sprout was a funny and interesting little witch, but by far Hermiony's favorite class was Transfigurations. Professor McGonagall was tough. But she was also honest with the class and tried her best to get everything across. She wrote complex notes on the board. But a funny thing happened as Hermiony copied them into her notes. Unlike the rest of her classmates, she understood it all. She had an epiphany. Transfigurations were based on certain basic formulas just as math was based on arithmetic. As soon as she mastered those basic formulas, nothing would be impossible. It would just come with more knowledge and experience. She also understood why it was considered so difficult. Transfiguration was based on logic, and some of the most famous wizards, like Uric the Oddball and Wendlin the Weird, had no sense logic. But Hermiony did.

Another funny thing happened. When Professor McGonagall handed out matches, Hermiony had a vision of herself transfiguring it into a silver needle. Visions like that were not knew to her, but they usually scared her. This time she used it as a guide to turning her match into a needle. She was the only one who succeeded. Professor McGonagall gave her a smile, the first real smile Hermiony ever saw from her. However the scowls of her classmates, especially Ron, punctured her happiness. She was still lonely.

Hermiony spent most of her free time in either the library or the common room. She did not get along with Lavender and Parvati as well as she had hoped. Not that she disliked them, it was just that the Gryffindors all paired up into friends. Harry and Ron were inseparable, as were Seamus and Dean and Lavender and Parvati. That left only her and Neville. Neville was in an awkward place. No one had any problems with Neville. They all liked him and always tried to make him feel better. They just never included him. Hermione also liked Neville very much, but he needed so much help all the time it became difficult to bear. Their relationship was very unequal. She felt that she would have been a better older sister to him instead of a friend. Still, he was the sweetest person at Hogwarts. Shortly after the term began, her parents were alerted to an owl post station near their house. They often wrote letters to her, and on her birthday they sent a cake. She left it in the common room. Everyone took a piece, but few wished her a happy birthday. All the Gryffindor first years forgot her. Except Neville. He bought her some chocolate frogs and the two of them stayed up that night in the common room, just eating the frogs and looking at the wizard cards inside. Then just before they went to bed, he sang "Happy Birthday".