Disclaimer: Come on Already lets get this straight: I AM NOT J.K. ROWLING!
Thinking it Over
Hermione sighed as she put away her pensive. So much stuff is happening so soon. On top if the fact that she still doesn't know why she has this scar on her arm, although she thinks she has a pretty good idea, now mysteriously Dumbledore wants to train her and Harry personally. And what happens when this gets out? Will Voldemort some after her as well? What about the prophecy? It only mentioned Harry, so where does that put her? Also how will that effect what Ron thinks of her? How could she ever have wanted to know all this? Now it is simply a burden for her to bear, and for her to bear alone.
Should she disobey Dumbledore and tell Harry? No she decided, she must keep this silent. No matter how hard it is to keep, it must be kept. No one, not even Ginny, her best friend, can know about this. At least until Dumbledore says so, he must have his reasons, he always does.
She decided to try to sleep, if she keeps thinking about it she won't be able to sleep for weeks. She climbed into bed, and after awhile fell into a fitful sleep.
'"Daddy, Mommy? Where are you? Why don't you answer?" Hermione toddled through the strange house. She heard someone moving behind her, she turned and saw a baby Harry behind her, with a worried expression on his face. She felt herself uncontrollably saying "why don't they answer?" "I don't know" Harry responded. All of a sudden someone who Hermione instinctively realized was her mother, burst in sobbing, she grabbed them and carried them upstairs. When they entered Harry and Hermione's room, Lily locked the door behind her, and told Harry and Hermione to stay behind her. All of a sudden the door was broken in and there stood a crowd of people in black, with white masks. One of them, that had no mask, addressed her mother, saying "Stand aside, don't be a fool like James was. Let me have the children. Give them to me." To which her mother responded by telling Harry and Hermione to get into the closet. Hermione was too frightened to move but Harry grabbed her arm and pulled her into the closet and shut the door. They heard the voices continuing, her mothers getting higher, and more frightened, and the man's voice getting angrier. Eventually their mother and that man raised their voices so much that Hermione could make out the words. "My children are here, and I will not have you using that kind of language around them!" "This is your last chance! Step aside Lily!" "No!" "Very well then, you leave me no alternative. Avada Kedavra!" Then all Hermione heard was silence, then the closet door opened, and that man stared at them. Then there was a flash of green light all around—'
Then Hermione woke up. Somehow, even though she knew it hadn't been part of her dream, she remembered Harry grabbing her left arm and pulling her mostly out of the blast. The blast was aimed at both of them, obviously an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. But Harry had misjudged where the blat was and his head and her arm were caught. She dismissed her thoughts for the moment and lay back hoping to at least get an hour's sleep. She had a busy day tomorrow.
The Great Hall was teeming with the life of a thousand students, back and ready for another year of school. Well, most of the students. Well, some of them. Well, most of the Ravenclaws and Hermione. Still for all the glum faces, there was a genuine feeling of joy permeating the air. Old friends sat and spoke with each other for the first time in months. And, as always happens the first week, the first years straggled in unevenly as they eventually found their way to the Hall. Many of the Gryffindor first years were sporting spectacular glares whenever their gaze fell upon Ron, especially a little blond girl with a bandaged hand. Hermione made a note to ask Ron what happened when she got the chance. She supposed his hunger would bring him out of the dorm eventually, even though it might not be until lunch time. It was hard to tell which was higher on his priority list—eating or sleeping. "Apparently eating" she said to herself as he walked through the door. He looked half asleep, and all of the Great Hall burst out laughing at the sight of his sleep-tousled hair and too small maroon pajamas. All of a sudden he was wide awake. When he looked down and saw his pajamas, his face turned a shade of red that would have made a fire engine proud. He ran from the room, and returned in a few minutes, fully dressed.
At their first class, DADA, Harry, and Ron, and Hermione entered the room a few minutes early, so as to see Tonks, before class began. "How are you guys?" Tonks asked brightly. Ron fled the room in pursuit of a first year that had stopped to glare daggers at him. With Ron gone, Harry and Hermione could ask Tonks what they really wanted to know. "Why does Dumbledore want us trained?" Harry asked. "And why is he training us personally?" Hermione added. Tonks thought for a moment before answering "I don't know. I suggest that you ask him."
"We will but-"
We'll never know what 'but' was, for at that moment the rest of the Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs entered, wildly speculating on what their teacher's dark secret was and how they'd get rid of her at the end of the year. Would she too be terrorized by a creature from the forest? Did she have an illegal way of punishing them? Was she some sort of vile creature? Or perhaps a fraud? A servant of the Dark Lord? Well it couldn't be the last, they'd had two already. They would find out soon enough.
After DADA, they went to Transfiguration. "Take your seats please." Was the first sentence out of McGonagall's mouth. "The person to your right will be your partner for the remainder of the year. You will be doing projects together, and most importantly, you will work together to figure out how to do human transfiguration. You will come to me when you think you have it. When you make a mistake, you will take your partner to the hospital wing." "Professor? "Hermione asked "Professor? I don't have a partner." "Very well, you may partner up with Misters Potter and Weasley; no one could deny that they will need your guidance. You will all start immediately on your research, the first group to come to me with the correct spell will get 50 extra points to on whatever test, or tests they wish. Dismissed"
The shadow moved more quickly, yet more carefully than before. It wouldn't do to be caught now. It hurried across the grounds silently towards the forest forbidden to the students. Once inside it abandoned every attempt at stealth and ran to a small clearing. Already it regretted having to wait all day to leave the school, it wouldn't make the master any more impatient. Another shadowy figure entered the clearing and the first shadow prostrated at it's feet. "Do you have it?" Whispered a voice promising a painful death for a wrong answer. "I do."
"You have done very well, young Malfoy. Normally I would reward you beyond all others for this. However I can't reward a follower without reason."
"Without reason, master?" Malfoy thought about all the difficulty he went through for this mission.
"Nothing, Malfoy. Obliviate!"
One shadow vanished from the clearing while another wondered what he was doing there. Finally he shrugged and made his way back, swiftly and silently, it wouldn't do to be caught out of bed.