Chapter Four: Fitting In

Hermione was fixing her hair when she heard it, the first gossip of the year. "What do you think about the new girl, Jennifer?" Parvati said, not bothering at all to lower her voice. She felt the bristles on the back of her neck rise in anger, and she stopped to listen to the reply.

"Shhh!" Lavender scolded, and then replied in a quiet tone, "She supports Dumbledore, and my parents told me he was a crackpot, so I guess I'll have to watch out for her."

Hermione whipped around and faced them "You do realize she's in the room, don't you?"

They both gave her a look of venom before hurrying out of the room, their cloaks rustling loudly through the door. Jennifer's bed curtains moved to reveal her, sitting on top of the covers, looking methodical.

"You heard that." Hermione stated as Jennifer slid off the four poster bed. The look on Jennifer's face was surprisingly calm.

"Yes," she said, "but I was expecting it, so no surprise."

Hermione's forehead wrinkled as she tried to reason out her behavior. "Doesn't it bother you?"

Jennifer shrugged, which was difficult, considering she was putting on her school tie. "If I let everyone bother me, I wouldn't last a week. Besides, other's opinions of me have never mattered. I am who I am, and they can deal with that." She straightened up, "Want to show me how to get to breakfast?" she smiled, "I have a feeling I'm going to be getting lost a lot."

"I'm glad you're here," Hermione said suddenly, eyes locked on Jennifer's.

Jennifer's smile widened. "Me too."

They made their way to the Great Hall, with Hermione pointing out various landmarks along the way. Harry and Ron weren't in the common room, and they found the two with loaded plates at the Gryffindor table, looking over their schedules.

"Look, mate, we've got Umbridge first," Ron said thickly, mouth stuffed with sausage, "I wonder how that's gonna go."

"Not well," Hermione said dryly, picking up Jennifer and hers schedules that were lying next to Harry. "Thanks for getting ours," she added, sitting next to Harry. Jennifer sat on the opposite side of them, next to Ron.

"So," she said gaily, "Give me the scoop on the teachers."

Ron, who looked altogether nervous, just grabbed his goblet and gulped down some pumpkin juice. Harry and Hermione rolled their eyes together, and began pointing to her schedule.

"Umbridge. You know as much about her as we do. Hagrid is our mate, but you have to be careful around his creatures. Binns, most boring thing—He's a ghost—McGonagall, she's fair but strict, Flitwick is vertically challenged, but his class is always fun, and..." at this point Hermione let out a little squeal that did not suit her at all, "You've got Arithmancy too! I've been dying to have a friend in that class!"

Nodding, Jennifer reclaimed her schedule. "I was the top of my class at Salem, so the transfer shouldn't be too bad," she remarked, nonchalant.

Harry and Ron sniggered. "Looks like you've got some competition now, Hermione," Ron said, grinning at the way she reacted when Jennifer said she was top in her class. "Be nice."

She merely glared at him. "Oh shut up, Ron."

Jennifer didn't seem to notice the exchange, but commented randomly, eyes towards the entrance of the Great Hall, "the portrait..."

Harry glanced at her. "What portrait?"

"Huh?" she asked, raising her head as if from a stupor. "Oh, oh just something I had a dream about. It's nothing."

They continued their breakfasts, but the three old friends kept glancing at each other strangely, all noticing Jennifer's odd behavior. No one said anything out of sheer politeness, but each one was contemplating it as they entered Professor Umbridge's classroom.

To recap the lesson would be pointless; they only read to themselves, that is, after Harry and Jennifer were both issued detentions for 'telling lies'. Both were seething by the end of the class, and stormed out.

Jennifer was seeing red and didn't notice which way she was going until her vision cleared and she realized she was lost. In frustration she pounded her fist into the corridor wall until it hurt too much. Students she could stand, she expected to be a spectacle among them; but having a teacher tell her that what she believed in was a lie...now that was something she did not expect to hear when she came to Hogwarts.

"Jennifer?" Hermione's voice reached her ears from a distance, the tone soft and comforting. "Are you okay?"

Still facing the walls, she bit her lip to stop the tears from sliding down her face. "Yea," she whispered, "I'll be fine."

After a few minutes her breathing calmed, and she turned to face Hermione, eyes dry. "So," she said, a little too cheerfully, "How do we get to Arithmancy?"

"I can tell this year is gonna be the worst," Ron groaned as he and Harry trudged away from their first Divination class of the year. "Can you believe all the homework that old hag is throwing on us?"

Harry chose not to respond, merely puling his book bag further up onto his shoulder. They walked in silence for several minutes before Ron couldn't take the quiet anymore. "Its strange to think that Hermione isn't sitting by herself right now."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "What?"

Looking fixedly at the floor, Ron continued, "Well, think about it. It's been the three of us for four years, and suddenly we have a stranger with us. A nice stranger," he added hastily at Harry's frown, "But, you know? Someone new. That takes some getting used to."

"Yea, I guess." Harry's respect for the new girl had risen considerably during their joint confrontation in Umbridge's classroom. He hadn't been expecting Umbridge to undermine everything he respected and was taken by surprise and let his guard down. Jennifer had objected loudly, and Umbridge turned her claws to the poor girl too, promptly issuing them joint detentions. She had then concluded that both Jennifer and Harry had moral problems, and that they would be sorted out so that their deranged way of thinking wouldn't spread.

It was very hard not to jinx her.

"She stood up to Umbridge," Harry said after a pause, "So I think she'll fit in."

"Yea," Ron agreed, grinning. "That was bloody cool of her."

"And stupid," a drawling voice called out from around a corner. Malfoy sauntered out into their path, eyes wide and dangerous. "You're going to regret messing with the ministry, Potty."

"And you're gonna regret interrupting our conversation when my fist smashes into your skull, Malfoy." Ron snarled, face starting to burn red.

"Ooohh, is the weasel mad?" he sneered, "Can you see me trembling with fear?"

Ron lunged, but Harry grabbed his arms, which left Ron struggling into the air. "He's not worth it, mate. He's just trying to get you in trouble."

Malfoy snickered at the expression on Ron's face. "I guess I'll leave Potty and the Weasel to sort out their problems," he laughed, turning the corner to go to dinner with Crabbe and Goyle, who had been waiting as backup.

"He's slime," Harry said condolingly, "Ignore him."

Ron didn't respond, and his face was still crimson when they reached the Great Hall. Jennifer and Hermione were deep in discussion, and, judging by the open Arithmancy textbooks in front of them, it was about the lesson they just had. They both looked up when Ron threw his Divination book on the table with a reverberating thud.

Harry just shook his head when Hermione opened her mouth to inquire. Jennifer didn't catch the interaction, however, and asked cheerfully, "How was Divination? When are you gonna die, Harry?"

"How'd you know?" Ron gasped, anger momentarily forgotten.

"All Divination teachers are predicting a students death as a warm up for the year." She smiled a little guiltily, "And Hermione told me about Professor Trelawny on the way to class."

"Sometime next week," Harry muttered, sliding down into his seat, "And hopefully it's before her class."

He and Ron started to load their plates, but Ron stopped suddenly, banging down his fork. "Before we get out of here," Ron declared, "I'm going to murder Malfoy."

Hermione snapped her head up. "What happened?" she half whispered, glancing at the head table.

Harry kept his eyes on his plate, uninterested in the topic. "Same was usual; he threatened, Ron got red, and I held him back." He looked up briefly and saw Hermione staring intently at him. "What?"

"What did he say?"

Giving her a strange look, he replied, "He said something like don't mess with the ministry. He heard me and Ron talking about Umbridge. Why?"

"I don't know," she muttered into her lap, and she was presently lost in thought.

After dinner, they returned to the Gryffendor common room, Jennifer carefully marking the way. She was lucky, so far, to have people escorting her to and from class, but she was still mapping the castle in her mind. She planned to draw it out when she returned to the Gryffendor tower.

Ron collapsed onto an armchair, letting out a loud sigh. "I'm going to sit here and not make up my Divination homework."

"Sounds like a great idea," Harry agreed, mimicking him on a different chair. Hermione's disapproving scowl gave Harry some motivation, however, and he sat up with great effort, groaning as he did so. "Come on, mate, we'll just get it over with."

"Are you channeling Hermione?" was the muted reply, as Ron's face was mushed into the cushions.

"And things are back to normal," Hermione muttered to Jennifer, who had gotten her Arithmancy work out. She smiled briefly, but began concentrating and working fast. They all worked in silence for an hour, which was difficult considering that Fred and George were advertising their need for test subjects very loudly.

Jennifer shut her Arithmancy textbook quietly, and retreated to the dormitory without attracting the attention of anyone.

She was gone for nearly half an hour before anyone noticed. "Hey," Harry said quizzically, "Where'd she go?"

"Hmm?" Hermione asked without looking up.

"Jennifer. She's gone."

The common room was still full; the night was young and most were too excited by the first day to actually get any sleep, and neither could see Jennifer among them.

Parvati and Lavender came into the common room from the girl's dormitories. They saw Harry and Hermione looking around, and walked over to them. "Are you looking for your new friend?" Parvati asked Hermione, completely ignoring Harry.

"Well," Lavender started, "We were just going up the dormitory, and she was there, and it was so strange! The floors were wooden, the walls were mirrors, and there was a ballet bar. She was in the middle, doing ballerina things. It was so cool," she breathed. "She's got music on too, coming from this box thing."

"That's not possible," Hermione interrupted, "Electricity doesn't function here."

Lavender and Parvati drew up, offended. "Fine, go see with your own eyes, Hermione," Lavender sniffed, and they turned away to go talk with Dean and Seamus on the other side of the common room.

Harry looked at Hermione. "Was she talking about a radio?"

"I think so. I'm going to go see what's up."

When Hermione poked her head around the door, she gasped. The walls were mirrors, the floors polished wood. The beds stood to the side, and the room just seemed so much bigger. Her eyes found the questionable radio, and it was in fact, letting out a beautiful melody of classical music. Jennifer was in the middle of it all, moving with the music, doing leg tricks and leaps. She watched for five full minutes, mesmerized by the graceful movements. Jennifer ended with a flourish, and glanced up in the mirror.

"Hermione!"

She stepped into the room, and looked around even more. "How the hell did you do this, Jennifer? This is amazing!"

"Oh, it's a special charm I learned from my Charms teacher at Salem so that I can practice wherever I go." Her face was pink from exertion, but she took the break to stretch out her legs. "The only hesitation I ever had about going to a magical school was the fact that it was a boarding school, which meant dance lessons would be nearly impossible. I found a way around it though, when I went to my Charms teacher. She did it for me every night until I could do it myself. I usually used an empty classroom, but since I don't know my way around yet, I stole the dormitory."

"I can show you one," Hermione said, running her hand over the bar, "How does the radio work?" she inquired, bending down to look at it.

"Oh, that's something I modified so that I could use it in Salem. The only problem is I haven't figured out how to switch the cds I want to use, so its been playing the same one for five years," she laughed, sitting in the splits. "Hey, I'm only going to be another half hour, and I get nervous when my friends watch me..."

"Oh!" Hermione stood up swiftly and walked towards the door, "I'll make sure to tell everyone else to stay away for a little bit."

Jennifer smiled. "Thank you."

"So," Hermione lingered at the door, "Did you enjoy your first full day at Hogwarts?"

"For the most part."

"Good." Hermione walked down the dormitory stairs slowly. "This is going to be interesting," she whispered to no one in particular. Ron and Harry were both too occupied to notice her return, and she sat in her seat.

"Very interesting."

TBC...