Author's Notes: Now I'm nearing EIGTHY reviews! This is absolutely superb! I completely feel like a celebrity here; now I can finally wear THESE without feeling stupid… ::puts on oversized glasses shaped like stars::
I'm sorry if you think the story is moving along too slowly. Hermione's been at Hogwarts for two or three chapters, now, and none of the plot, besides what you already knew, has been revealed. I just didn't think it would be wise to rush into everything right away, you know? But I suppose I've waited long enough.
I feel that I must reply to some intriguing reviews, so here we go.
UniMyth: Harry is mad at Hermione for many reasons; hopefully, the next couple of chapters will clear some of that up. And I must admit, you're very perceptive – or maybe I'm just too obvious. Either way, I like the way you're thinking about Bella, though I can't say if you're right or wrong. You'll figure it out eventually!
Megafreak: You're one among several people who have commented on the famous golden trio breaking up. It hurts me inside more than you can imagine writing such hateful things, but it's what makes the story interesting. Has it seemed like I'm dragging on their little non-speaking stage for too long? I don't want to rush into anything else real soon…
Bracken-Fae: Which argument, exactly? Ron and Hermione's or the entire trio's? I've already done Ron and Hermione's – that was in the first couple chapters, I believe. I think you're referring to the trio's, and if so, I'm not sure I'll do an argument, exactly, since everything's been explained anyway. But if it's still a little hazy, then maybe I will; I don't know.
SeverusSnapesgirl12786: I admit, I was quite surprised when I read your review and you mentioned Snape, but it's a good idea. I should add him in somehow, or at least do some explaining about him. And don't worry; we all love Snape one way or another.
CrimsonEnchantress: I just wanted to say I loved your reviews. They made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you.
I must really like semi-colons; I used quite a few in the preceding paragraphs. =)
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CHAPTER SEVEN – PROFESSOR GRANGER
Hermione woke the next morning to a soft rain pattering on her dorm window. She groggily blinked her eyes several times before getting up to stare out over the grounds; droplets of rain were making little ripples all over the enormous lake and the trees of the Forbidden Forest creaked in the wind. For a short moment, she wondered why she felt so dazed. Then she remembered how late she had stayed awake the night before planning the lessons for her first day – it was at least two o'clock before she pulled on her pajamas and crawled into bed.
After brushing up and pulling on her nicest pair of robes, Hermione left her dorm and made her way down the stone steps into the staff room. It was quite empty, save for the few scattered teacups lying atop the vacant tables.
The corridors were oddly quiet as Hermione made her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Her footsteps echoed off the walls, which created a rather eerie effect. She sped up her pace, rubbing her arms; the November air cooled the inside of the school as well as the outside.
Hermione entered the warm and inviting Great Hall to find it buzzing with breakfast chatter. Again, she was the last to arrive, and she scanned the table, making sure Bella was there this time. Trying to put faces with names to help remember who was who, she examined the rest of the table and found Hagrid sitting at the very end (after all, he wasn't very hard to miss). He was conversing with Harry and Ron but broke off into a smile when he saw her. Harry and Ron followed his gaze, only to scoff simultaneously and pretend they weren't looking at all.
"'Ermione!" said Hagrid in his husky voice. "Great ter see yeh again! Sorry I missed yer arrival the other day. I was a bit busy with, er – stuff, if yeh get my drift," he added with a wink. Hermione figured he was referring to important Order work.
"Of course. Lovely to see you again as well."
"Listen," he said, lowering his head and his voice to block out Harry and Ron. "I was wonderin' if I could a word with yeh this evening. Come on down to me hut round seven o'clock, hm? I'll make cakes fer yeh."
Hermione grimaced at the thought of breaking her teeth on Hagrid's so-called cakes. But she wouldn't pass up a chance to have a nice chat with her long-time friend. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that. I'll come after dinner."
As soon as she promised to visit him, her stomach lurched unpleasantly; what if Hagrid had invited Harry and Ron, too? Hermione would not under any circumstances find herself in the same room as them unless when needed, and she didn't want to make a scene in front of Hagrid, either. Her nerves loosened, however, when he gave her a secretive grin, straightened up, and continued his conversation with Harry and Ron as if nothing had happened. Something told Hermione she would be going alone.
She continued along, making sure to get a chair towards the other end of the table. One was open in between Ginny and Desdemona King, so Hermione plopped down, suddenly not wanting any breakfast at all.
"Bit nervous about your first day, aren't you?" Desdemona asked.
"I suppose," said Hermione, trying to not let her apprehension show.
"You'll do fine," Ginny offered encouragingly. "You're Hermione, after all."
"My first day was a nightmare," said Desdemona glumly, staring off into space. "The students were so accustomed to a wicked Potions professor. So when I walked into my first class, which consisted of a group of mischievous fourth years, I found myself sitting on a large, slippery toad instead of a stool. No one knows I'm afraid of… toads," she said, her voice now very close to a whisper. "I was completely mortified."
Hermione gulped. Desdemona's story wasn't exactly a positive one. "Thanks," she said weakly.
"Oh, but they love me now," Desdemona added airily, still staring across the room; obviously she didn't notice she was stirring her coffee with her wand instead of her spoon. "I'm not a pushover, of course… I hand out about five detentions a week. But they've been so afraid of their past professors that I came as quite a surprise, or so I was informed."
"No," Hermione said quickly. "They were scared of their former teachers. We all were." Ginny nodded profusely in agreement.
"Just let me know if any of your students are misbehaving," Desdemona said impishly. "I'll be sure to give them a good bewitching –"
"Des!"
"Sorry, Ginny."
The rest of breakfast passed with laughter and Hermione in fairly high spirits, however nervous she still remained. When the Hall was beginning to empty, Hermione bid Ginny and Desdemona goodbye and made her way to her still rather bare office (which she decorated quickly the evening before).
She could hear her classroom gradually filling with students, all chattering stridently. Her hands shaking slightly, Hermione gathered up her planner and the notes that had been left for the fourth year class. She scanned over them again quickly, words such as "disruptive" and "playful" jumping out at her. Well, she mused, this shall be an interesting morning.
When she entered her classroom, the students took their seats immediately (several of whom had been dancing on the desktops), all gazing at her inquisitively. From the corner of her eye, Hermione noticed two boys in Gryffindor robes smirk roguishly as a girl in the front row turned to her left to whisper in another girl's ear. Everyone else remained still, waiting for their new professor to speak.
"Good morning," Hermione said in what she hoped was a confident voice. "I am Professor Granger, and I will be teaching you Transfiguration for the remainder of the year. Now, I do have notes from your previous teacher explaining where you've left off, so I can only hope that I'll be able to do as well as he did. If you ever feel the need to point something out to me, please, don't hesitate."
"Your shoe's untied," said a small boy with untidy brown hair to Hermione's right. The class giggled as Hermione bent down to lace her boot.
"Thank you for telling me," she said, standing up and trying to keep a straight face. "You just saved me from a very serious potential injury. May I have your name?"
"Theodore Parnell Lloyd, but everyone calls me Theo," he responded in an artificial haughty tone. "At your service."
Glancing at his robes, Hermione noticed he was a Gryffindor. She had never known a Gryffindor to be so disrespectful. It was clear she had just met the clown of the class; after all, she had been warned this was a rowdy bunch. Well, two could play this game. She wasn't going to let a child dominate her on her first day of teaching.
"Well, Mr. Lloyd, perhaps you can tell me where exactly your class left off?"
"Certainly, miss," he replied slickly. Hermione detested being called miss, especially by someone half her age and half her size. "Let's see… last week, our professor took us on a field trip to Hogsmeade so we could, um – study the new batch of shape-shifting owls the post office had just received. And he set us an essay, and the person who wrote the longest essay was awarded free Butterbeer. That was me, of course. Yeah, he always gave us free candy for doing so well in class, that's why we're all so smart, so I would suggest that you do the same. We're supposed to be learning about Advanced Transformation this week, and McGonagall's granted you permission to let us turn our fellow classmates into –"
"She's done nothing of the sort!" exclaimed a girl two seats down from him. "Please, Professor, don't listen to Theo. We're due to learn about Asian dragons this week. And we've never gotten free candy for completing our homework, what a stupid thing to –"
"Shut up, Mallory," Theo said curtly. "We are too supposed to transform one another into animals, McGonagall said so!"
The class broke out in an argument. It seemed half the room was on Theo's side, going along with his ridiculous story, while the other half supported Mallory and the truth. Hermione wondered how smart Theo was taking her for; she couldn't possibly believe a tale full of such rubbish. But, still, she had to give the child credit for trying.
"I think someone has an overactive imagination," she suggested pleasantly. Theo sunk back in his chair, glowering at the girl who has spoken against him. Hermione turned to her and asked, "And what's your name?"
"Mallory Beldam," she responded, stumbling over her words. Obviously, Mallory was quite flattered to be called upon by a teacher like so; vaguely, she reminded Hermione of someone.
"Thank you very much, Miss Beldam, for correcting your classmate and enlightening me on what you're expecting to learn. I do believe I will continue with your previous teacher's schedule, for now, and we'll get started on Asian dragons straight away." Hermione moved to take several large books out of her bag, but Theo spoke up again.
"I swear, Professor!" he shouted, getting rather frustrated. "We're due to start Advanced Transformation! I'm supposed to turn Drake into a hippogriff, for God's sake, so you've got to teach it to us!"
"I highly doubt any of you will be changing each other into hippogriffs," said a slick male voice from the back of the room. The entire class swung around in their seats to see who had spoken, including Hermione, who was rather startled. A tall man with an overconfident smirk was leaning against the doorframe, basking in the glory of the students' excited murmurs. Several girls near Hermione pointed and whispered, "I've seen him all over the papers!" while many of the boys simply stared at him, wearing very impressed expressions. Hermione, however, groaned inwardly.
"Who are you?" asked a plump child in the second row.
"I, dear boy, am known as many things, Sir Wizard the Magnificent being one of them. You, on the other hand, may refer to me as Mr. Ron Weasley – though you don't have to use the mister; it makes me sound old."
The class clapped politely as if he had just made a Nobel Prize-winning speech. Ron smirked again at Hermione and took a seat in the back of the room behind a girl who nearly swooned out of her chair.
Hermione realized her mouth was hanging open in shock and closed it quickly. No one had told her Ron would be popping in on her very first class, which she was already quite nervous about. Perhaps he would just be staying for a few minutes; he was supposed to do some investigating in classes, McGonagall had said. But it seemed oddly suspicious to Hermione that he should pick this particular class to inspect.
There was no way she would be able to teach this lesson confidently, she told herself. Not with Ron monitoring her in the back of the room. And the thing that baffled her the most was his new attitude toward her. Wasn't it just the day before he would glare severely whenever she passed? Now here he was, sitting there like a schoolchild, wearing that awful smirk, just waiting for her to mess up.
Hermione decided she didn't like his new attitude any more than his old.
But she wouldn't let him change anything. To her, he wasn't even there. These students were expecting her to teach them about dragons, and that she would.
"Right, so – so Asian dragons," she began somewhat feebly, taking out her volume again. "Please turn to page five hundred eighty-three in Beasts of Asia and Africa."
There was a ruffling of pages as the room flipped through their books to Hermione's requested page. A boy near Theo raised his hand shakily, asking Hermione if he could borrow an extra copy, because he forgot to feed his cat for a week so the creature clawed up his own. Aside from that, the lesson was off to a smooth start.
"It is a commonly known fact," Hermione began, "that the dragons of Asia have the most unique features and brilliant colors of any dragons in the world. While having a reputation to be quite dangerous and fearsome, this does not apply to all breeds located in the Asia region. Take the Japanese Jaguar for example. Named after a large animal of the cat family for it's resemblance in size, it is easily the smallest dragon and the least formidable. Now consider –"
"Actually, the Striped Indian Inferno is the least dangerous," interrupted someone from the very back of the room. "True, the Jaguar is the smallest in size, but is slightly more true to its name when it comes to behavior. Trust me – you don't want to come across the path of one of those, I've tried it."
There was an ooh throughout the room when Ron finished his speech. The fourth years were very awed by his dragon account.
"Did it breathe fire all over the place?" asked a Ravenclaw. "Did it try to breathe fire at you?"
"A fair few times," Ron explained as if his near-death experience was something he'd never forget. "If it wasn't for me, it would have burned down the whole village. Luckily, I knew just the spell to prevent that from happening. They'll never see the likes of that beast again."
"Excuse me," Hermione said coldly. Ron glanced up and had clearly forgotten she was there. "I was under the impression that I was teaching this lesson, not you."
"Yes, of course," he replied with yet another smirk. "Do continue."
Giving Ron a good, hard frown that she hoped would subdue him for the remainder of the class, Hermione began quizzing her students on what they already knew about Asian dragons. To her surprise, the class was actually quite intelligent, save for the fair few who refused to answer her questions (in response to "What does a Chinese Fireball eat?" Theodore sent consecutive elephant-shaped sparks into the air with his wand before Hermione decided to confiscate it).
"Very nice, class," Hermione exclaimed some thirty minutes later. "A good portion of you would have gotten full marks had that been an actual quiz. I may not hand out candy like your former professor did" – here she glanced meaningfully at Theo, who wasn't looking but drawing on his desk with his quill instead – "but I can give you house points. Thirty to Ravenclaw and twenty to Gryffindor."
"Actually, it's twenty-five to Gryffindor," Ron offered in a would-be gracious tone. "Connor answered twice, you only counted his first answer."
A blonde boy next to Mallory turned a deep shade of red, and Mallory beamed at him proudly.
"Thank you, Mr. Weasley," said Hermione, clenching her teeth and trying not to loose her head in front of her entire class. Ron nodded and looked like he was desperately fighting back a snicker. "For Friday, I would like a short essay on an Asian dragon of your choice; it need only be half a roll of parchment!" she added quickly upon hearing her class emit loud and exaggerated groans. "Please be sure to include the beast's eating habits, its area of occupancy, it's physical and behavioral descriptions, and five rare facts. You have ten minutes to begin writing. Oh, and Mr. Lloyd, please come collect your wand."
The class busied themselves with opening their Beasts of Asia and Africa textbooks and searching through their unorganized bags for parchment. Theo sauntered up to Hermione's desk, took his wand, winked at her, and sat back down. He immediately pointed his wand inconspicuously at a girl seated in front of him, levitating her quill backwards when she wasn't looking. The girl straightened with a piece of parchment in hand, saw her quill was missing, and began asking her neighbors frantically if they'd seen it. Hermione sighed and was about to loan the frenzied student a quill when a voice caught her attention.
"Professor," Mallory said, furrowing her brow in concentration. "There's just something I don't understand, and I need it for my essay. If the Russian Black is known to attack others only when its territory is invaded, why did it engage in the fight of 1649 with the Blue-Crested Taiwanese outside of its chosen region?"
Hermione chuckled at Mallory's perceptiveness. "Very good question," she replied delightedly, totally forgetting the quill-less girl. "It's quite simple actually. You see –"
"Russian Blacks are incredibly stupid dragons," Ron's voice interrupted yet again in a quite phony studious tone. "They're also known for doing a good job of getting themselves lost and wandering to neighboring countries, which is exactly why the Barrier Act of 1721 was established. I myself couldn't fathom why I encountered one when I was hiking in the mountains of Mongolia once, on my way to save a city from a Yeti, but then I remembered the nature of their stupidity. That particular dragon was so thick it ended up in Taiwan, and who knows how the bloody hell –"
"RON!"
The class had gone silent, turning their heads to stare at their professor instead. Ron too was gazing at her, quite astonished; obviously, he had not expected her to speak up in such a manner.
He had gone too far, Hermione concluded. He knew she was nervous about her first day, so she should've known he would screw up her first chance at making an impression on the school. She had lost count of the times he had interrupted her with information she very well could have presented to the class without the supercilious adventure stories worked in.
Hermione realized the class was staring at her with a mixture of alarm and admiration on their faces. She had nearly lost her professional composure to Ron in front of her very first class of the year, and she could hardly admit that shouting like that was appropriate, either.
"Mr. We –" Oh, forget that, she thought "– Ron, may I kindly have a word with you in the hallway, please?"
She purposely ignored the sniggers from several girls in the third row as she followed a rather confounded Ron into the hallway outside her classroom. She was sure to slam the door loudly behind her, too.
"What are you doing?" Hermione asked heatedly, making sure to keep her voice down.
"Hmm?" Ron asked, pretending he hadn't a clue in the world as to what she was talking about.
"Don't act like a fool, you stupid prat. This was my first class of my teaching career, and you've just absolutely botched it all up!"
"I was only trying to help," said Ron innocently, trying to hide yet another smirk.
"How dare you come into my classroom and so rudely interrupt me as if I'm not the teacher and you are! I don't know what made you think you had the right to even say so much as a word to me or the students; you're beginning to forget your place here!"
"My place is to drop in on the classes to make sure all's well with the students," Ron said a bit more seriously. "McGonagall obviously doesn't think you can handle that job yourself, so naturally she'd want me to oversee things your first day. If you ask me, you've got a pretty suspicious bunch in there… that little know-it-all, Melanie or whatever she's called, really reminds me of someone –"
"Just shut up, Ron!" Hermione hissed, beginning to crack. "I've completely had it with you and your immature behavior! First you're glaring at me, then you're not speaking to me, and now you're embarrassing me in front of my own class!" She was beginning to grow hysterical. "I mean, what do you want from me?"
Ron stared at her for a minute and scrunched up his forehead as if doing some deep thinking. But before he could say anything, the bell rang, and Hermione's classroom door flew open. The students piled out, many of them staring curiously at Hermione and Ron. Theo winked as he was pulled down the hall by a friend and Mallory waved politely.
"Don't forget – essay, due Friday!" Hermione yelled at the backs of her departing students, none of whom were listening.
She turned to go back into her office to prepare for her next lesson in fifteen minutes – first years – but rounded on Ron for one last comment.
"And if you ever set foot in my classroom again, Ron, I swear that I'll blow you to pieces, so help me God."
With that Hermione turned on her heel and marched over the threshold, slamming the door powerfully in Ron's face. She listened for a moment, wondering if he would disregard her threat and follow her anyway, but she could hear his retreating footsteps and knew he would stay out – for the rest of the day's classes, at least.
By dinner, Hermione was rather tired; her lessons had taken a lot out of her. Thankfully, Ron hadn't shown up anymore, and she was able to teach her students peacefully. She was very impressed with how she felt she did overall, and the kids seemed to like her.
"How'd the day go?" Ginny asked casually mid-way through their meal as she heaped a mountain of potatoes onto her plate.
"Except for a small disturbance this morning, it all went quite nicely. My Ravenclaw fourth years had no trouble transforming their shoes into hares at all; I believe they were the most promising group. Though one second year child – Bernard something or other – accidentally turned his classmate's locks of hair into small snakes, so she was sent to the Hospital Wing for the remainder of the lesson. Can't say we all didn't get a good laugh out of that."
Ginny let out a small giggle before straightening and becoming more serious. "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary? I mean, was everyone – normal?"
"Yeah," said Hermione, slightly surprised. Honestly, she hadn't thought much about it all day. But she wasn't going to let Ginny know. "I probably wasn't paying close attention during the snakes incident, but otherwise, they all seemed like average students."
"Well, it's only your first day," Ginny said matter-of-factly, re-filling her cup with pumpkin juice. "You're bound to notice something sooner or later. It isn't that hard to miss, really."
Hermione nodded, cleared her plate, and then said good-bye to Ginny. She had decided to head up to her dorm and change into regular clothes before going down to Hagrid's.
The Great Hall had been devoid of many teachers, Hermione noticed, which explained why the staff room was so crowded upon her entrance. She noticed Desdemona, Jeffery, and James in a corner conversing strongly; from the words Hermione could hear, it was obvious they were in a discussion about Quidditch.
Bella was seated on the other side of the room, her cup of coffee drifting up to her mouth every now and then. She was reading a book, and though the letters were too slanted for Hermione to read from her standing point, she could faintly see the name "Emily Dickinson". From the studies she did over the woman in her young years of school, Hermione knew her to be a famous Muggle poet. She just had never expected a woman like Bella Levrero to be so immersed in poetry.
And there, in the very middle of the room, seated together, were Harry and Ron. They both halted in their conversation to look up as she made her way around the tables and towards the staircase. Ron gave her a cold, hard glare, most likely still sore from their argument earlier in the day. But to Hermione's immense surprise, Harry did not. He stared at her in a new light, as if he'd never seen her before, and whispered something in Ron's ear, causing Ron to shout out incomprehensibly. Rather baffled by their strange behavior, Hermione walked more quickly up the stone steps and took sanctuary in her hospitable dorm room.
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Author's Notes, Edition Two: Wow! I never do a second author's notes at the end of the chapter! This could give me an excuse to write even longer ones!
This chapter would end up being about fifteen pages long if I included Hermione's visit to Hagrid and some, er, stuff I have planned for after that. Unfortunately, I must be forced to stop here and write the rest in a subsequent chapter. So sorry. The next chapter may be a bit shorter, but it'll have a sufficient amount of goodness to meet your needs. And no, I'm not talking about R/Hr fluff. Sorry again.