Disclaimer - You know the drill. I obviously don't own anything but the
plot.
For all of you who want Draco in this story I'm pretty sure he begins to make his appearances in this chapter. You can cheer now.
ATTENTION ALL READERS - On January 10 I will be changing my pen name on this site from Katie Crickett to Selvagem. Thank you for reading and please try and remember!
-=-=-=-
Hermione unwillingly got herself out of the comforts of her bed the next morning and jumped into a cold shower to wake her up. The icy water poured over her and slowly she regained her senses. Soon she realized that she would have to get out of the shower if she planned on getting to class on time.
Twenty minutes later, she was in the Great Hall eating breakfast with Harry and Ron.
"Sleep well?" Ron asked between bites. He swallowed his mouthful of bacon and looked at her from across the table.
"I think so. I don't really remember getting to bed or anything." Hermione yawned and reached over Harry to the roll basket.
"You wouldn't." Harry mumbled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She retorted. She hadn't done anything wrong this morning and they were already being rude.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything." He said with a sigh before changing the subject. "So what do we have first today?"
"Double potions." Ron groaned. "With them." He pointed to the far side of the room where the Slytherin table was located. They were a very solemn looking bunch. None of them were talking or even looking at each other. None of them had moved by the time the threesome left to get to class.
They knew that Potions wouldn't be a cheerful class, it never was, but they had no idea just how uncheerful it was going to be. Sixth and Seventh years at Hogwarts were required to take advanced Potions. Which means the class would be harder and longer than it had been in the past.
No sooner had the last student taken their seat than Snape came storming into the classroom, his normal long black robes billowing out behind him. He stood at the front of the class and glowered out at the students in front of him.
"You are in Advanced Potions now. If you can't do it I will not baby you and I will not pity you. Try to keep up." He turned back to his desk and sat. Hermione watched him do everything. As much as she tried she couldn't find the same hate that she had for him before. It was very hard to hate your father's old best friend and as much as she tried she just couldn't. This didn't mean she liked him, no one liked him, but she didn't loathe him as much now.
He stood up from his desk after a matter of minutes and walked through the aisles of desks.
"You will each have a partner for this year; all year. There will be no changes in pairings and I don't care whether you like them or not. Now Weasley, Parkinson; Potter, Zabini; Granger, Malfoy-" He continued to list off partners. Hermione groaned. All year being stuck with that prick. She gathered her books and plopped down into the empty seat next to the blonde Slytherin.
"Let's make the best of this." She muttered. Malfoy hadn't acknowledged her presence yet, and that was fine with both of them. If they each stayed out of each other's way maybe they could survive this partnership. Snape had started to speak again, and their attention was drawn to the front of the classroom.
"I'm sure many professors will go easy on you this week since it is the first week back at school. Do not expect that here or get ready for a great disappointment. Today we will be making a simple yet vital potion. Many wizards use it to heal cuts and scrapes. It is called the Terniw Potion and you will start by-"
Hermione and Draco finished listening to the instructions and then opened their books to the respected page. They silently divided up the duties and each began to get their ingredients ready. Without saying a single word they completed the potion flawlessly and received full marks for the day.
'Maybe this won't be too bad.' Hermione thought. 'As least if I'm working with Snape's pet he won't take points off my work.' Class was almost over but they had yet to store their potion. Draco went about putting it into vials and putting the vials in the storeroom.
They had gone through the entire class without saying a word to eat other. Not even an insult thrown. When Snape dismissed them from class Draco simply left to join his fellow house members. Hermione met up with Harry and Ron outside.
"So how was it?"
"Was it terrible?" Hermione didn't know which of them had asked which question so just answered both of them with one response.
"It actually wasn't that bad. We didn't talk at all. Maybe I'll survive this." Harry and Ron looked hesitant to accept her answer so soon, but didn't say anything else on the rest of the walk to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The room was abuzz by the time they got there and most of their classmates had already arrived. Everyone was excited about the new teacher. The second years had been in her class yesterday and they had all said she was great. The only seats left were in the back so the threesome reluctantly took them before Professor Rire arrived.
Even the late stragglers got to class and into their seats before Professor Rire arrived; she was late. Everyone sat quietly in their seats for almost ten minutes before a rather flushed young witch came running into the classroom. She stood bent over in front of the room trying to catch her breath.
"Sorry for being," breath, "so late." Breath, "I got a little," breath, "bit lost." She finally managed to say. Once she had recovered herself she looked out at the students and smiled. "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am your teacher, Joyeux Rire. I don't care what you call me. I understand that you have had some pretty bad professors in this class, is that right?"
"Yes!" The class shouted and Rire jumped. She hadn't been expecting that much of a response.
"Well then I hope I won't be another one to add to your collection. Let's see, I might as well tell you a bit about myself before we begin the year together. As you already know my name is Joyeux Rire. I was born in Paris, France, and grew up there when I wasn't here at school."
"You went to Hogwarts?" Dean Thomas asked.
"Yes, I did. And it hasn't changed a bit. Dumbledore was my Headmaster too. Transfiguration was always my favorite subject. Let's see, is there anything else I can tell you? Well, after Hogwarts, I became an Auror, but I didn't like that much. So when Dumbledore asked me to come here, I came and here I am."
"Why didn't you like being an Auror?" Harry asked quietly from the back of the room.
"Well, I don't really know for sure. I guess there's one job for everyone and that just wasn't mine. There was too much pressure on me. I don't function well under pressure." She said thoughtfully. Harry nodded and looked down at the table.
"Alright then. I should start your lesson shouldn't I?" The class murmured a disappointed yes. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, the first one won't be difficult. All I want you to do is write a minimum of three paragraphs telling me what you learned last year so I know where to start." Everyone groaned. "Oh come on. It's not that bad. I could make it worse." Everyone quietly began to work before she did make it worse.
By the end of class everyone except Hermione, who felt that she had to tell the new Professor every single little thing they learned last year, had turned in their papers. She completed hers and handed it in right as the bell rang.
"Thank you, Ms. Granger." Professor Rire said when she was given Hermione's paper, and her eyes grew wide when she saw how much was on it. "See you next class."
"Right. Bye." Hermione left to join her friends outside. "So what do you think of her? I think she'll be a lot better than any of the others, except maybe Lupin. It's hard to get better than him."
"I think she's hot." Ron said and Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"
"She's definitely better than Lockhart." Harry said. "I think she'll be fun."
"Hey, Lockhart was not that bad." Hermione defended their old teacher.
"Yes he was." Harry and Ron said in unison and Hermione knew they were right and dropped the subject. The threesome split at the stairway to go to their separate classes, Hermione to Arithmancy, which she had to take everyday and Harry and Ron to History of Hogwarts. Hermione didn't take that class since she had read the book so many times.
That night in the Commonroom, Hermione finally told her friends about her talk with Dumbledore.
"So they've lived in Hogsmeade all this time and you never knew?" Ron said in a hushed voice. The room was still fairly crowded.
"Yeah. They run the one and only bookstore there. Can you believe it? I must have been in that store a million times and never known." Hermione whispered back. She was still having trouble believing it. It was just too much of a coincidence.
"So are you going to do anything about it?" Harry was almost scared of the answer to his question.
"Yes. Next time we go to Hogsmeade for the day I'm going to go see them." Harry and Ron both gave her an "Are you sure?" look. She knew that look. They had been giving it to her a lot over the past few days. She sent one back that said, "Yes and stop asking." They gave up and wished her goodnight before going to bed.
Hermione stayed downstairs looking into the flames of the fire until her eyelids fluttered shut and she fell asleep on the couch.
-=-=-=-
The next morning she was awakened by the sound of people moving about in the room around her. She sleepily sat up and rubbed her eyes. She realized the time and rushed upstairs to quickly get ready for class. She just barely made it back downstairs before Harry and Ron left without her.
"Why are you so late?" Harry asked as they hurriedly walked down the hall towards the Transfiguration room.
"Fell asleep on the couch last night and I overslept." Hermione answered and just nearly caught her book as it fell from her arms.
"Hermione overslept? This has never happened before. Alert the Daily Prophet!" Ron teased and narrowly avoided being hit in the stomach.
"Cut it out." She glared at them both and took her seat in class.
"Welcome back, class. I'm glad to see you all-" But Hermione didn't hear the rest of McGonagall's welcoming speech. She suddenly found the world around her fading away into darkness. The sound of the Professor's voice also grew quieter and quieter until it was altogether gone.
In place of the classroom Hermione found herself looking around a room she had never seen before. It looked much like the Gryffindor Commonroom only decorated in yellow and blue. She guessed it must be the Hufflepuff Commonroom. Two boys entered through a tapestry on the north wall. One of them she recognized as Justin Finch-Fentley and she knew she had the other in one of her classes but she didn't remember his name.
Justin was talking to the other boy but she couldn't hear what he was saying. She called out to him; neither of them took notice of her. She walked up and tapped Justin on the shoulder but her hand went right through him. 'Oh no.' She thought. 'I'm not dead am I? I can't be a ghost.' She stumbled back at the thought but caught herself from falling.
The two boys were still talking. 'If I'm a ghost they can still see me.' She stood in between the two boys and waved her arms. Neither of them did a thing; they just kept on talking. 'Okay, so I'm not a ghost. Suddenly the other boy's face grew dark and he punched Justin in the face. He fell backwards in fear and pain and ran from the room.
Hermione's eyes grew wide and she reached out to help him. Then she remembered she couldn't. The scene that played out in front of her grew fuzzy and over time she found herself back in the Transfiguration classroom, lying on the floor.
"Ms. Granger, are you alright?" Professor McGonagall asked. She was hunched over her student's body, wand in hand.
"W-What h-h-happened?" Hermione stuttered partly in fear, partly because her mouth didn't seem to be cooperating with her brain.
"You were sitting in your desk and all of a sudden you fell from your chair and started to shake violently on the floor." The Professor informed her.
"Oh." Hermione was still getting used to what she had seen. She glanced over to the Hufflepuff side of the room and both Justin and the other boy appeared to be fine. "I'm fine." She said quietly and took her seat again.
"I think you should go to the nurse, dear." McGonagall said still checking to make sure everything was okay.
"No really. That's not necessary. I'm fine." Hermione got out her supplies for class and nothing else went wrong the rest of the day.
At dinner, however, Ron and Harry positively grilled her about what had happened. She explained every detail to them and they sat in shock.
"But you're terrible at Divinitation. You couldn't have had a vision." Ron murmured.
"I don't think it was a vision. I think I just went temporarily insane, that's all." Hermione said. Of course she hadn't really gone insane but she couldn't have had a vision. She didn't have the gift.
Harry and Ron continued to ask her questions until she finally got mad and told them she was going to bed. She stormed out of the Great Hall and left the two of them sitting in shock.
"So what do you think is wrong with her?" Harry asked his friend.
"I don't know Harry. I just don't know." Ron said softly. Neither of them spoke another word the rest of the night to each other.
The next day in Herbology Justin came in with a black eye and the threesome just looked at each other in awe.
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That's chapter five. Hope you liked it. I finally got one of the key points of the plot worked in so that's a good thing. And she didn't have a vision exactly. She did see the future but it's not a vision. She has a gift but it's not the same kind you use in Divinitation, if that makes any sense. Just had to clear that up.
REVIEW!
For all of you who want Draco in this story I'm pretty sure he begins to make his appearances in this chapter. You can cheer now.
ATTENTION ALL READERS - On January 10 I will be changing my pen name on this site from Katie Crickett to Selvagem. Thank you for reading and please try and remember!
-=-=-=-
Hermione unwillingly got herself out of the comforts of her bed the next morning and jumped into a cold shower to wake her up. The icy water poured over her and slowly she regained her senses. Soon she realized that she would have to get out of the shower if she planned on getting to class on time.
Twenty minutes later, she was in the Great Hall eating breakfast with Harry and Ron.
"Sleep well?" Ron asked between bites. He swallowed his mouthful of bacon and looked at her from across the table.
"I think so. I don't really remember getting to bed or anything." Hermione yawned and reached over Harry to the roll basket.
"You wouldn't." Harry mumbled.
"What's that supposed to mean?" She retorted. She hadn't done anything wrong this morning and they were already being rude.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything." He said with a sigh before changing the subject. "So what do we have first today?"
"Double potions." Ron groaned. "With them." He pointed to the far side of the room where the Slytherin table was located. They were a very solemn looking bunch. None of them were talking or even looking at each other. None of them had moved by the time the threesome left to get to class.
They knew that Potions wouldn't be a cheerful class, it never was, but they had no idea just how uncheerful it was going to be. Sixth and Seventh years at Hogwarts were required to take advanced Potions. Which means the class would be harder and longer than it had been in the past.
No sooner had the last student taken their seat than Snape came storming into the classroom, his normal long black robes billowing out behind him. He stood at the front of the class and glowered out at the students in front of him.
"You are in Advanced Potions now. If you can't do it I will not baby you and I will not pity you. Try to keep up." He turned back to his desk and sat. Hermione watched him do everything. As much as she tried she couldn't find the same hate that she had for him before. It was very hard to hate your father's old best friend and as much as she tried she just couldn't. This didn't mean she liked him, no one liked him, but she didn't loathe him as much now.
He stood up from his desk after a matter of minutes and walked through the aisles of desks.
"You will each have a partner for this year; all year. There will be no changes in pairings and I don't care whether you like them or not. Now Weasley, Parkinson; Potter, Zabini; Granger, Malfoy-" He continued to list off partners. Hermione groaned. All year being stuck with that prick. She gathered her books and plopped down into the empty seat next to the blonde Slytherin.
"Let's make the best of this." She muttered. Malfoy hadn't acknowledged her presence yet, and that was fine with both of them. If they each stayed out of each other's way maybe they could survive this partnership. Snape had started to speak again, and their attention was drawn to the front of the classroom.
"I'm sure many professors will go easy on you this week since it is the first week back at school. Do not expect that here or get ready for a great disappointment. Today we will be making a simple yet vital potion. Many wizards use it to heal cuts and scrapes. It is called the Terniw Potion and you will start by-"
Hermione and Draco finished listening to the instructions and then opened their books to the respected page. They silently divided up the duties and each began to get their ingredients ready. Without saying a single word they completed the potion flawlessly and received full marks for the day.
'Maybe this won't be too bad.' Hermione thought. 'As least if I'm working with Snape's pet he won't take points off my work.' Class was almost over but they had yet to store their potion. Draco went about putting it into vials and putting the vials in the storeroom.
They had gone through the entire class without saying a word to eat other. Not even an insult thrown. When Snape dismissed them from class Draco simply left to join his fellow house members. Hermione met up with Harry and Ron outside.
"So how was it?"
"Was it terrible?" Hermione didn't know which of them had asked which question so just answered both of them with one response.
"It actually wasn't that bad. We didn't talk at all. Maybe I'll survive this." Harry and Ron looked hesitant to accept her answer so soon, but didn't say anything else on the rest of the walk to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The room was abuzz by the time they got there and most of their classmates had already arrived. Everyone was excited about the new teacher. The second years had been in her class yesterday and they had all said she was great. The only seats left were in the back so the threesome reluctantly took them before Professor Rire arrived.
Even the late stragglers got to class and into their seats before Professor Rire arrived; she was late. Everyone sat quietly in their seats for almost ten minutes before a rather flushed young witch came running into the classroom. She stood bent over in front of the room trying to catch her breath.
"Sorry for being," breath, "so late." Breath, "I got a little," breath, "bit lost." She finally managed to say. Once she had recovered herself she looked out at the students and smiled. "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am your teacher, Joyeux Rire. I don't care what you call me. I understand that you have had some pretty bad professors in this class, is that right?"
"Yes!" The class shouted and Rire jumped. She hadn't been expecting that much of a response.
"Well then I hope I won't be another one to add to your collection. Let's see, I might as well tell you a bit about myself before we begin the year together. As you already know my name is Joyeux Rire. I was born in Paris, France, and grew up there when I wasn't here at school."
"You went to Hogwarts?" Dean Thomas asked.
"Yes, I did. And it hasn't changed a bit. Dumbledore was my Headmaster too. Transfiguration was always my favorite subject. Let's see, is there anything else I can tell you? Well, after Hogwarts, I became an Auror, but I didn't like that much. So when Dumbledore asked me to come here, I came and here I am."
"Why didn't you like being an Auror?" Harry asked quietly from the back of the room.
"Well, I don't really know for sure. I guess there's one job for everyone and that just wasn't mine. There was too much pressure on me. I don't function well under pressure." She said thoughtfully. Harry nodded and looked down at the table.
"Alright then. I should start your lesson shouldn't I?" The class murmured a disappointed yes. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, the first one won't be difficult. All I want you to do is write a minimum of three paragraphs telling me what you learned last year so I know where to start." Everyone groaned. "Oh come on. It's not that bad. I could make it worse." Everyone quietly began to work before she did make it worse.
By the end of class everyone except Hermione, who felt that she had to tell the new Professor every single little thing they learned last year, had turned in their papers. She completed hers and handed it in right as the bell rang.
"Thank you, Ms. Granger." Professor Rire said when she was given Hermione's paper, and her eyes grew wide when she saw how much was on it. "See you next class."
"Right. Bye." Hermione left to join her friends outside. "So what do you think of her? I think she'll be a lot better than any of the others, except maybe Lupin. It's hard to get better than him."
"I think she's hot." Ron said and Hermione elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"
"She's definitely better than Lockhart." Harry said. "I think she'll be fun."
"Hey, Lockhart was not that bad." Hermione defended their old teacher.
"Yes he was." Harry and Ron said in unison and Hermione knew they were right and dropped the subject. The threesome split at the stairway to go to their separate classes, Hermione to Arithmancy, which she had to take everyday and Harry and Ron to History of Hogwarts. Hermione didn't take that class since she had read the book so many times.
That night in the Commonroom, Hermione finally told her friends about her talk with Dumbledore.
"So they've lived in Hogsmeade all this time and you never knew?" Ron said in a hushed voice. The room was still fairly crowded.
"Yeah. They run the one and only bookstore there. Can you believe it? I must have been in that store a million times and never known." Hermione whispered back. She was still having trouble believing it. It was just too much of a coincidence.
"So are you going to do anything about it?" Harry was almost scared of the answer to his question.
"Yes. Next time we go to Hogsmeade for the day I'm going to go see them." Harry and Ron both gave her an "Are you sure?" look. She knew that look. They had been giving it to her a lot over the past few days. She sent one back that said, "Yes and stop asking." They gave up and wished her goodnight before going to bed.
Hermione stayed downstairs looking into the flames of the fire until her eyelids fluttered shut and she fell asleep on the couch.
-=-=-=-
The next morning she was awakened by the sound of people moving about in the room around her. She sleepily sat up and rubbed her eyes. She realized the time and rushed upstairs to quickly get ready for class. She just barely made it back downstairs before Harry and Ron left without her.
"Why are you so late?" Harry asked as they hurriedly walked down the hall towards the Transfiguration room.
"Fell asleep on the couch last night and I overslept." Hermione answered and just nearly caught her book as it fell from her arms.
"Hermione overslept? This has never happened before. Alert the Daily Prophet!" Ron teased and narrowly avoided being hit in the stomach.
"Cut it out." She glared at them both and took her seat in class.
"Welcome back, class. I'm glad to see you all-" But Hermione didn't hear the rest of McGonagall's welcoming speech. She suddenly found the world around her fading away into darkness. The sound of the Professor's voice also grew quieter and quieter until it was altogether gone.
In place of the classroom Hermione found herself looking around a room she had never seen before. It looked much like the Gryffindor Commonroom only decorated in yellow and blue. She guessed it must be the Hufflepuff Commonroom. Two boys entered through a tapestry on the north wall. One of them she recognized as Justin Finch-Fentley and she knew she had the other in one of her classes but she didn't remember his name.
Justin was talking to the other boy but she couldn't hear what he was saying. She called out to him; neither of them took notice of her. She walked up and tapped Justin on the shoulder but her hand went right through him. 'Oh no.' She thought. 'I'm not dead am I? I can't be a ghost.' She stumbled back at the thought but caught herself from falling.
The two boys were still talking. 'If I'm a ghost they can still see me.' She stood in between the two boys and waved her arms. Neither of them did a thing; they just kept on talking. 'Okay, so I'm not a ghost. Suddenly the other boy's face grew dark and he punched Justin in the face. He fell backwards in fear and pain and ran from the room.
Hermione's eyes grew wide and she reached out to help him. Then she remembered she couldn't. The scene that played out in front of her grew fuzzy and over time she found herself back in the Transfiguration classroom, lying on the floor.
"Ms. Granger, are you alright?" Professor McGonagall asked. She was hunched over her student's body, wand in hand.
"W-What h-h-happened?" Hermione stuttered partly in fear, partly because her mouth didn't seem to be cooperating with her brain.
"You were sitting in your desk and all of a sudden you fell from your chair and started to shake violently on the floor." The Professor informed her.
"Oh." Hermione was still getting used to what she had seen. She glanced over to the Hufflepuff side of the room and both Justin and the other boy appeared to be fine. "I'm fine." She said quietly and took her seat again.
"I think you should go to the nurse, dear." McGonagall said still checking to make sure everything was okay.
"No really. That's not necessary. I'm fine." Hermione got out her supplies for class and nothing else went wrong the rest of the day.
At dinner, however, Ron and Harry positively grilled her about what had happened. She explained every detail to them and they sat in shock.
"But you're terrible at Divinitation. You couldn't have had a vision." Ron murmured.
"I don't think it was a vision. I think I just went temporarily insane, that's all." Hermione said. Of course she hadn't really gone insane but she couldn't have had a vision. She didn't have the gift.
Harry and Ron continued to ask her questions until she finally got mad and told them she was going to bed. She stormed out of the Great Hall and left the two of them sitting in shock.
"So what do you think is wrong with her?" Harry asked his friend.
"I don't know Harry. I just don't know." Ron said softly. Neither of them spoke another word the rest of the night to each other.
The next day in Herbology Justin came in with a black eye and the threesome just looked at each other in awe.
-=-=-=-
That's chapter five. Hope you liked it. I finally got one of the key points of the plot worked in so that's a good thing. And she didn't have a vision exactly. She did see the future but it's not a vision. She has a gift but it's not the same kind you use in Divinitation, if that makes any sense. Just had to clear that up.
REVIEW!