She considered herself a fool for thinking that Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would be any different than Deerborne Academy. Perhaps, in her desperate wish to be accepted, to have just one friend, she'd imagined that wizards knew nothing of namecalling and teasing. Even though she was certain she was too smart of have fallen for such an unlikely dream, she couldn't help feeling disappointed.
Hermione Granger never felt like she had much going for her, to be quite frank. She was never funnier than the other kids. She never had the effortless charm that others did. Adults never fawned over her untamable hair or unsightly teeth. Sports weren't her forte either.
So what did a girl like her have to offer?
Intelligence. It was the one thing that she had in spades. Yet, she possessed something more than mere smarts. She had the dedication and focus to put her natural talents to good use.
Her parents couldn't be more proud of her! Excellent marks in every subject, every year. They rarely had to give her even the gentlest of reminders to do her homework. In fact, it was more difficult to get her to play than it was to get her to go to school.
Of course, every kid that shared a grading curve with her hated her. Without exception, they were jealous of her accomplishments and resentful of the way it highlighted their own failures. As children, they never saw it in those terms. When they looked at her, they saw a teachers pet, a nightmare.
And years later, despite her deepest wishes, nothing had changed.
She sat, alone, on a blanket spread out under a tree at the end of the school's lake. Far from Ron Weasley and the ever-present Harry Potter. "Let them go be the center of attention for a while. Better them than me," she said quietly to herself.
Setting her book aside, she lay on her back, and watched the clouds pass through the leaves and branches of the tree. She loved how the clouds were often shaped like everyday objects. The clouds morphed as the crossed the sky above her. The hippogryph became the Sorting Hat which, in turn, became a bubbling cauldron. Before she knew about the wizarding world, her clouds resembled elephants and bicycles and electric guitars. She took solace in the fact that not everything stayed the same.
Eventually, she dozed off, lulled into sleep by the soft breeze and the quiet sounds of the lake. Before sleep claimed her, she promised herself that she wouldn't always be a pariah. "Someday," she thought, "I'll figure this out. Someday, I'll learn how to have friends."