There's No Place Like Home
Chapter 2
Welcoming and Surprises
Hermione walked straight to the portrait that guarded her new rooms. It depicted a young shepherdess in a long, yellow, frilly dress and light yellow bonnet with a shepherd's cane; under the bonnet were tumbles of curly golden blonde hair.
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. What is yours?" she asked.
The girl curtsied, "Jocelyn, Mistress Granger."
"Well then, Jocelyn, may I please set my password?"
The portrait giggled. "Why, of course, Mistress Granger. What shall it be?"
"Well, I was thinking 'William Shakespeare', really," Hermione said.
"Oh, yes. His writings are quite wondrous, don't you think? My favorite is 'Romeo and Juliet'. What might yours be?" the portrait inquired.
"Well, I truly like 'Othello' and 'Henry V'. They are comparatively interesting. May I go to my rooms, now, Jocelyn?"
"Oh, oh!" She giggled, "Of course, Mistress Granger."
At that, the shepherdess's portrait swung open.
Walking in, Hermione decided to spend a bit of time making it homier. Looking around, she took in her surroundings. There was a comfortable living room with a door leading off to a diminutive work room. The bedroom was slightly smaller than the living room and was dominated by a four- poster bed and wardrobe. There were large windows and fireplaces in both the bedroom and living room, ensuring the rooms wouldn't be unbearably hot in the summer or too chilly in the winter. The bathroom was off the bedroom and, like the rest of the apartment, was small but well-appointed. In each room, the windows were overlooking the lake.
In her typical orderly fashion, she stood near the entry and began at the beginning: the living room. Her encounter with Snape made her feel especially bitter, so she decided to play up her Gryffindor past. At least that settled the question of color scheme: red and gold.
Starting to the left of the door, Hermione looked at the room's draperies and with a swish and flick of her wand, transformed them into swaths of scarlet with minute golden diamonds woven into the material. There was a fireplace between the two windows on the wall to her left which had a lovely grey marble mantle; this she left for the moment.
In front of the fireplace was an overstuffed sofa. She enlarged the piece slightly, making it a comfortable place to stretch out and read. She also transfigured the upholstery, preferring dark scarlet leather. Her fondest memories as a child had been sitting on her father's lap in his favorite leather chair while he read to her. The smell and sound of the leather would remind her of him and the comfort she felt when she was small.
Two comfortable armchairs flanked the fireplace. The only changes to these were to match the color to the drapes. The side tables were in highly polished mahogany and looked perfect with the emerging décor. The oriental carpet between the chairs only needed a little change to the color scheme and she was finished there.
Continuing in a clockwise direction from the sitting area, she walked into the work room. First thing she did was make it larger. The desk was sturdy, but simple, so she transfigured it into a ladies' writing desk. The four walls surrounding the room were not visible for the cause of floor- to-ceiling bookshelves, two of which were already brimming with hefty texts; these bookcases would be perfect for her growing library.
Directly across the living room from the entry was the doorway to her bedroom. She would tackle that room after she'd satisfied herself with the living room.
There was a small bar in the far right-hand corner, where a small wrought iron table and two chairs sat. While she wasn't very fond of the café look, she chose to leave that until she found something she really wanted there.
On the right wall, she changed the wall hanging from the enchanted portrait of an Italian renaissance marketplace into a large tapestry of the Gryffindor golden griffin. She grinned at the thought of how much that would probably annoy Snape. Not that he would ever set foot in here, but the thought pleased her anyway.
Finally coming to the wall immediately to the right of the entrance, she conjured a golden cat claws coat rack, mirror, and small table. She took a look around the room and was pleased with the warm and welcoming feel to it.
Moving toward the bedroom, she stood in the doorway between the rooms. She recreated the living room's window treatments for the one window in the bedroom and draped the bed in coordinating linens that repeated the colors from her former House. Having always wanted a canopy bed, she quickly altered the height of the four posts to the bed and added slats to hold the fabric she swathed over the summit of the frame.
The huge armoire suited her, so she left that as it was. She added a cheval mirror and a chaise in an understated gold fabric. Again, preferring uninhabited tapestries to magical portraits, she changed the art in the room to include two smaller woven pieces that coordinated with the larger tapestry in the living room.
Satisfied with the bedroom, she walked to the bathroom door. The room felt rather antiseptic, with its white ceramic, white marble, and chrome fixtures. She decided that she wanted something warmer, so she changed the stark white marble to a rosy hue. The small claw-footed tub was enlarged and deepened, and she added a hand-held showerhead. That would make dealing with her hair much easier than trying to wash it in the sink. The sink and commode were changed to match the understated color of the marble and all the chrome handles and pulls were changed to a golden color.
She was left with the last thing she wanted to change: the ceiling of the loo. She'd been entranced with the way the Great Hall's ceiling was charmed to reflect the sky and decided that she wanted a similar effect in this room. In fact, she'd originally planned to charm her bedroom ceiling in this way until she realized that the effect would be hidden by the canopy of her bed - and she wasn't willing to forgo the bed of her dreams. Besides, it would be less difficult to charm the smaller space of the bathroom ceiling.
When she first completed the charm, she thought she'd done something wrong since it was dusky. She then realized with a start that she had spent several hours decorating. With a snort at her own foolishness, she quickly prepared for the sorting feast. It would never do to be late for such an important event. The fact that she wanted to make sure she was able to get there before Snape added to her desire to arrive at the Great Hall promptly.
Hermione managed to arrive at the Great Hall in time to claim one of the three remaining seats. She snickered to herself when she noticed that two of the three seats were on either side of Severus. She settled in to watch the nervous first years enter the Hall. She smiled at their awed expressions. They all came up to the front for the sorting and fidgeted nervously as Professor McGonagall carried the Sorting Hat to the old stool placed in front of the Head Table.
Movement from the other end of the table caught her eye and she looked for its cause. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the last seat being filled by a smirking, pale, blond man with silver eyes. Draco Malfoy!
For a moment, Hermione was afraid she was going to faint. Everything in her field of vision seemed to go grey and she couldn't hear anything other than the sound of blood roaring in her ears.
She quickly got control of herself, closing her mouth and looking away before he could notice her discomfort. As she turned back to face the students, she lost herself in another memory.
~*~*~
Hermione was in the Headmaster's office, along with Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy. She sat in a round, squishy chair with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
"I am sure, Mr. Malfoy, that you know why you are here," The elderly man started.
The young man he was talking to smirked, "Of course I do. The mudblood had it coming, and that beast was annoying the hell out of me."
All Dumbledore could do was stare in shock at Malfoy, while Hermione started to cry. Again.
Snape cleared his throat, "Seeing as you are in my House, and therefore my responsibility, I shall be coming up with your punishments. First of which is that you will be spending three months' detention in the potions lab, cleaning up every inch of it. Without magic. Next, you will apologize to Miss Granger right now."
"Are you fucking kidding me? Like hell I will!" Malfoy roared.
"Then I guess you want five months' detention? I would be very pleased with that, for it would make less work for me," Snape smirked.
"Sorry, Mudblood," the blonde spat out.
"No, that won't work. You must say 'Sorry, Hermione'," Dumbledore said.
"Sorry. Hermione," Malfoy finally said coldly, then whispered an inaudible, "Not."
"Mister Malfoy, the last of your punishments is one hundred fifty house points from Slytherin," Snape said unpleasantly.
"WHAT?!" At that point, Malfoy was so angry that he stormed out of the room.
And no one noticed Hermione sitting quietly, and crying softly.
A few weeks later in January, it was found out that Draco Malfoy had transferred to Durmstrang without any explanation as to why.
~*~*~
When Hermione returned from what she now called the "Past Occurrences", she noticed that the sorting was over, and Albus had just stood up to give his speech. He made the usual announcements about avoiding the forbidden forest, on pain of some gruesome but unexpressed death. Then it was time for the introductions.
"Some of our older students may remember our two newest teachers as they both graduated four years ago. Miss Hermione Granger will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Mr. Draco Malfoy will be our new Arithmancy instructor. I trust you will bestow them the respect all our professors so richly deserve. And now, I believe it is time to eat, so I say: dig in!" And with that, the platters in the Great Hall filled with the most delectable dishes the students had ever seen.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, that's it for chapter two! It was definitely longer, ne? My stupid computer was messing up, so ~*~*~ means the beginning/end of a memory.
Kate helped me a LOT in this chapter. I told her what I wanted done, and she typed up some of the story for me. THANK YOU!!! See, I had/have a lot of work to get done, so I didn't have too much time to write this, so...yeah. I'd also like to thank these people for reviewing:
Griselda la fey: I'm so sorry about Crookshanks! It just suddenly came to my head! I was crying after I wrote that part. I don't know if this chapter helps, but I think it will.
No Name: I hope this chapter is long enough for you. I tried my best. And, I actually wanted it to be seven pages on Word, but it was only *checks* five. I'm hoping to make the next chapter even longer, though.
leonsalanna: Eeks! See, this is why I'm so paranoid about people picking my note book up. I have some rather *interesting* stories in it, and I do NOT want anyone to read them.
Well, that's it! Please R&R!! Ja ne!
~*~Rosie~*~
Chapter 2
Welcoming and Surprises
Hermione walked straight to the portrait that guarded her new rooms. It depicted a young shepherdess in a long, yellow, frilly dress and light yellow bonnet with a shepherd's cane; under the bonnet were tumbles of curly golden blonde hair.
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger. What is yours?" she asked.
The girl curtsied, "Jocelyn, Mistress Granger."
"Well then, Jocelyn, may I please set my password?"
The portrait giggled. "Why, of course, Mistress Granger. What shall it be?"
"Well, I was thinking 'William Shakespeare', really," Hermione said.
"Oh, yes. His writings are quite wondrous, don't you think? My favorite is 'Romeo and Juliet'. What might yours be?" the portrait inquired.
"Well, I truly like 'Othello' and 'Henry V'. They are comparatively interesting. May I go to my rooms, now, Jocelyn?"
"Oh, oh!" She giggled, "Of course, Mistress Granger."
At that, the shepherdess's portrait swung open.
Walking in, Hermione decided to spend a bit of time making it homier. Looking around, she took in her surroundings. There was a comfortable living room with a door leading off to a diminutive work room. The bedroom was slightly smaller than the living room and was dominated by a four- poster bed and wardrobe. There were large windows and fireplaces in both the bedroom and living room, ensuring the rooms wouldn't be unbearably hot in the summer or too chilly in the winter. The bathroom was off the bedroom and, like the rest of the apartment, was small but well-appointed. In each room, the windows were overlooking the lake.
In her typical orderly fashion, she stood near the entry and began at the beginning: the living room. Her encounter with Snape made her feel especially bitter, so she decided to play up her Gryffindor past. At least that settled the question of color scheme: red and gold.
Starting to the left of the door, Hermione looked at the room's draperies and with a swish and flick of her wand, transformed them into swaths of scarlet with minute golden diamonds woven into the material. There was a fireplace between the two windows on the wall to her left which had a lovely grey marble mantle; this she left for the moment.
In front of the fireplace was an overstuffed sofa. She enlarged the piece slightly, making it a comfortable place to stretch out and read. She also transfigured the upholstery, preferring dark scarlet leather. Her fondest memories as a child had been sitting on her father's lap in his favorite leather chair while he read to her. The smell and sound of the leather would remind her of him and the comfort she felt when she was small.
Two comfortable armchairs flanked the fireplace. The only changes to these were to match the color to the drapes. The side tables were in highly polished mahogany and looked perfect with the emerging décor. The oriental carpet between the chairs only needed a little change to the color scheme and she was finished there.
Continuing in a clockwise direction from the sitting area, she walked into the work room. First thing she did was make it larger. The desk was sturdy, but simple, so she transfigured it into a ladies' writing desk. The four walls surrounding the room were not visible for the cause of floor- to-ceiling bookshelves, two of which were already brimming with hefty texts; these bookcases would be perfect for her growing library.
Directly across the living room from the entry was the doorway to her bedroom. She would tackle that room after she'd satisfied herself with the living room.
There was a small bar in the far right-hand corner, where a small wrought iron table and two chairs sat. While she wasn't very fond of the café look, she chose to leave that until she found something she really wanted there.
On the right wall, she changed the wall hanging from the enchanted portrait of an Italian renaissance marketplace into a large tapestry of the Gryffindor golden griffin. She grinned at the thought of how much that would probably annoy Snape. Not that he would ever set foot in here, but the thought pleased her anyway.
Finally coming to the wall immediately to the right of the entrance, she conjured a golden cat claws coat rack, mirror, and small table. She took a look around the room and was pleased with the warm and welcoming feel to it.
Moving toward the bedroom, she stood in the doorway between the rooms. She recreated the living room's window treatments for the one window in the bedroom and draped the bed in coordinating linens that repeated the colors from her former House. Having always wanted a canopy bed, she quickly altered the height of the four posts to the bed and added slats to hold the fabric she swathed over the summit of the frame.
The huge armoire suited her, so she left that as it was. She added a cheval mirror and a chaise in an understated gold fabric. Again, preferring uninhabited tapestries to magical portraits, she changed the art in the room to include two smaller woven pieces that coordinated with the larger tapestry in the living room.
Satisfied with the bedroom, she walked to the bathroom door. The room felt rather antiseptic, with its white ceramic, white marble, and chrome fixtures. She decided that she wanted something warmer, so she changed the stark white marble to a rosy hue. The small claw-footed tub was enlarged and deepened, and she added a hand-held showerhead. That would make dealing with her hair much easier than trying to wash it in the sink. The sink and commode were changed to match the understated color of the marble and all the chrome handles and pulls were changed to a golden color.
She was left with the last thing she wanted to change: the ceiling of the loo. She'd been entranced with the way the Great Hall's ceiling was charmed to reflect the sky and decided that she wanted a similar effect in this room. In fact, she'd originally planned to charm her bedroom ceiling in this way until she realized that the effect would be hidden by the canopy of her bed - and she wasn't willing to forgo the bed of her dreams. Besides, it would be less difficult to charm the smaller space of the bathroom ceiling.
When she first completed the charm, she thought she'd done something wrong since it was dusky. She then realized with a start that she had spent several hours decorating. With a snort at her own foolishness, she quickly prepared for the sorting feast. It would never do to be late for such an important event. The fact that she wanted to make sure she was able to get there before Snape added to her desire to arrive at the Great Hall promptly.
Hermione managed to arrive at the Great Hall in time to claim one of the three remaining seats. She snickered to herself when she noticed that two of the three seats were on either side of Severus. She settled in to watch the nervous first years enter the Hall. She smiled at their awed expressions. They all came up to the front for the sorting and fidgeted nervously as Professor McGonagall carried the Sorting Hat to the old stool placed in front of the Head Table.
Movement from the other end of the table caught her eye and she looked for its cause. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the last seat being filled by a smirking, pale, blond man with silver eyes. Draco Malfoy!
For a moment, Hermione was afraid she was going to faint. Everything in her field of vision seemed to go grey and she couldn't hear anything other than the sound of blood roaring in her ears.
She quickly got control of herself, closing her mouth and looking away before he could notice her discomfort. As she turned back to face the students, she lost herself in another memory.
~*~*~
Hermione was in the Headmaster's office, along with Professor Snape and Draco Malfoy. She sat in a round, squishy chair with her hands clasped tightly in her lap.
"I am sure, Mr. Malfoy, that you know why you are here," The elderly man started.
The young man he was talking to smirked, "Of course I do. The mudblood had it coming, and that beast was annoying the hell out of me."
All Dumbledore could do was stare in shock at Malfoy, while Hermione started to cry. Again.
Snape cleared his throat, "Seeing as you are in my House, and therefore my responsibility, I shall be coming up with your punishments. First of which is that you will be spending three months' detention in the potions lab, cleaning up every inch of it. Without magic. Next, you will apologize to Miss Granger right now."
"Are you fucking kidding me? Like hell I will!" Malfoy roared.
"Then I guess you want five months' detention? I would be very pleased with that, for it would make less work for me," Snape smirked.
"Sorry, Mudblood," the blonde spat out.
"No, that won't work. You must say 'Sorry, Hermione'," Dumbledore said.
"Sorry. Hermione," Malfoy finally said coldly, then whispered an inaudible, "Not."
"Mister Malfoy, the last of your punishments is one hundred fifty house points from Slytherin," Snape said unpleasantly.
"WHAT?!" At that point, Malfoy was so angry that he stormed out of the room.
And no one noticed Hermione sitting quietly, and crying softly.
A few weeks later in January, it was found out that Draco Malfoy had transferred to Durmstrang without any explanation as to why.
~*~*~
When Hermione returned from what she now called the "Past Occurrences", she noticed that the sorting was over, and Albus had just stood up to give his speech. He made the usual announcements about avoiding the forbidden forest, on pain of some gruesome but unexpressed death. Then it was time for the introductions.
"Some of our older students may remember our two newest teachers as they both graduated four years ago. Miss Hermione Granger will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Mr. Draco Malfoy will be our new Arithmancy instructor. I trust you will bestow them the respect all our professors so richly deserve. And now, I believe it is time to eat, so I say: dig in!" And with that, the platters in the Great Hall filled with the most delectable dishes the students had ever seen.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, that's it for chapter two! It was definitely longer, ne? My stupid computer was messing up, so ~*~*~ means the beginning/end of a memory.
Kate helped me a LOT in this chapter. I told her what I wanted done, and she typed up some of the story for me. THANK YOU!!! See, I had/have a lot of work to get done, so I didn't have too much time to write this, so...yeah. I'd also like to thank these people for reviewing:
Griselda la fey: I'm so sorry about Crookshanks! It just suddenly came to my head! I was crying after I wrote that part. I don't know if this chapter helps, but I think it will.
No Name: I hope this chapter is long enough for you. I tried my best. And, I actually wanted it to be seven pages on Word, but it was only *checks* five. I'm hoping to make the next chapter even longer, though.
leonsalanna: Eeks! See, this is why I'm so paranoid about people picking my note book up. I have some rather *interesting* stories in it, and I do NOT want anyone to read them.
Well, that's it! Please R&R!! Ja ne!
~*~Rosie~*~