1Thanks for the reviews.
Chapter 2: The Golden Globe
Hermione breathed a deep sigh of relief upon reaching the Great Hall. Despite having to share a room with Malfoy, and despite her best friends ignoring her, Hermione was glad to be back in school. The sight and smell and sound of the Great Hall alone brought back a flood of sweet memories. They seemed bitter-sweet now though; after this year there would be no more meals here, laughing with her friends or ignoring them for her books.
Hermione was there before most of the other Gryffindors, which was to be expected, she supposed. Harry and Ron were not at the table yet, but Jule was. She sat all by herself, eating a muffin and sipping her coffee lovingly.
"Good morning," Hermione said politely, sitting across from Jule and reaching for a muffin herself.
"Morning," Jule sounded irritatingly chipper, and for a moment Hermione contemplated throwing the muffin at her.
"Why are you so awake?" She asked pitifully. "It's only seven-thirty!"
"I've been up since five," Jule proclaimed cheerfully, taking a big bite of muffin. "I go jogging every morning. The grounds here are beautiful." Although her mouth was full, her words were surprisingly clear. Hermione noted detachedly that her teeth were stained blue from the blueberries in her muffin.
"Good for you," Hermione said testily. She hated getting up early, but she always did. Of course, usually she had time to compose herself and pour on the honey before talking to anyone. Jule had caught her off guard.
"You're a bit more interesting in the morning, aren't you?" Jule observed interestedly. "Fascinating. Don't like the mornings much? You should come jogging with me; you'd be in better shape."
Hermione shot her an insulted look. "Thanks ever so, but as tempting as your offer is, I don't think I'd enjoy getting up at five in the morning."
"No problems there," Jule grinned, teeth still blue. "We can go in the afternoons after lessons are over. Build up an appetite for dinner."
"I'll think about it," Hermione lied. She detested jogging. "You're teeth are blue," she pointed out rudely.
"Are they?" Jule asked, surprised. "Thanks!" Pulling out a small pocket mirror she checked her reflection before casting a simple cleansing spell. Her teeth positively gleamed.
A little while later, once more students had arrived, Harry and Ron came strolling in, yawning widely. "Morning Herm, Jule," Harry said, grinning widely. "The uniform looks great on you." This was obviously addressed to Jule. Hermione rolled her eyes.
/Of course she looks great/ she thought furiously//Look what she's done to it/ Jule had obviously used magic to make the skirt shorter, ridiculously shorter in fact, as well as make the shirt tighter and more low-cut. Her tie hung loosely about her neck, and she had stuck a skull pin in it. Her robes were long, black and left completely open to reveal what she was wearing. When Hermione glanced down she noted that Jule's shoes were plain black Mary-Janes with platforms to rival those of her boots yesterday. As for her face, it was very Jule. Her hair was still extremely messy, as though she owned no comb, but she had somehow magicked sparkling pink streaks into it before pulling it into two small buns at the back of her head. Strands hung loosely about her face. Her make-up was done to match the hair, magically sparkling pink eye-shadow and lipstick, with black eyeliner and mascara to match her hair. She was really quite a sight.
Hermione ignored the sparkling pinkness in front of her and picked at her muffin. Harry sat down next to Jule and draped his arm around her shoulders. Hermione fought down a wave of jealousy. Not that she wanted Harry, quite the opposite, but because she longed to have someone to sit with who would hug her around the shoulders. Then Jule surprised Hermione.
Shrugging Harry off, Jule edged slightly away from him on the long bench. "Whoa Harry, what're you doing? I don't know you that well, ya know?"
"But, we were, you were, you kissed me!" Harry stuttered out. "I thought that meant that we'd be going out now!"
"No offense Harry, you're a nice guy and all, but just 'cause we made out once doesn't mean we're going out. I don't date monogamously. Don't have it in me. But I hope we can be friends." She said all this openly and sincerely, not trying to sound sympathetic or sorry for giving him the brush-off. Then, without giving him a second glance she turned to face Hermione.
"So, Herm, do you really like that nick-name? 'Cause I think I'd rather call you something else. Herm makes me think of my Uncle Herman. Nasty old pervert, he was. Anything you'd especially like to be called?" Hermione stared at her blankly. "Hmm, right then," Jule said, scrunching up her face in thought. "What shall I call you… Mione? No, it rhymes with hiney; I can imagine the awful insults already. How about… My? But no, that doesn't really work. Hmm… Add an a and you have May! Short, simple, and, best of all, pretty. What do you think?" She grinned widely. Now there were poppy-seeds stuck in her teeth from her second muffin.
"I think I'd prefer May," Hermione agreed, watching as Jule glowed at her own genius. "It is my favorite month, after all."
"Is it? That's nice." Jule, who was pouring herself more coffee and mixing in ridiculous amounts of sugar, didn't really seem to care.
"The flowers are out in May." Hermione said casually.
"Flowers are indeed an important component of the whole month of May thing. After all, April showers do bring May flowers." Jule carefully measuring out what had to be the fiftieth spoonful of sugar as she said all this.
"Indeed," Hermione agreed mock-seriously.
Throughout the whole naming discussion Harry and Ron had stared at the two girls, both feeling rather neglected. Although Ron was feeling better about his chances with Jule now that she had turned Harry down. He didn't need a girlfriend; he needed to lose his virginity. Something told him that Jule would be the perfect girl for that.
Hermione was also feeling better. There was something about spending time with Jule, especially when she was ignoring the boys in favor of Hermione's company, that cheered her up. It was like Jule was a magnet, and all those around her were drawn to her. Hermione could feel herself getting sucked in, loosening up a bit. And for one moment a new thought flashed through her mind; why would she want to catch flies with honey in the first place; flies were pests. Why not just pour the vinegar on all the way and see what might happen?
Before this thought fully registered the schedules were being passed around and Hermione was inspecting hers. "Hmm, transfiguration first. It's advanced, so that means she'll be testing us to see if anyone has the potential to become an animagus. Those who have it will get special lessons from her after dinner every Wednesday."
"How do you know these things?" Ron asked, amazed at her knowledge and nerdiness.
"I'm Head Girl," she explained proudly. "They tell me these things before hand."
"That's special," Harry said mockingly. He was obviously still bitter over Jule.
"Get over it Harry," Jule told him flippantly. "It ain't never gonna happen, so bitching and moaning and making everyone else's day worse isn't gonna make any difference."
Harry glared at her petulantly, so she stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed and moved on, "Yeah, whatever." But it was obvious that he would still seize any opportunity she offered to make out with her.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
When the students were quiet and had laid everything out on their desks, Professor McGonagall began to speak. "Now, I want everyone to turn to chapter seven in your text-books. That will be the reading for this year, and when we are finished you will all be masters of transfiguration."
The class clapped weakly. Each chapter was several hundred pages long, meant to cover one year of school each, and chapter seven was the longest of all. Of course, what Hermione knew that the rest didn't, due to the fact that she had read ahead already, was that a great deal of the last chapter was recapping everything they had already learned. If they remembered what they had studied before and had kept their old notes they would be fine.
"Now," McGonagall continued. "I want you all to start taking notes on pages one through ten while I call you up one by one to be tested for animagi potential." There was a slight murmuring amongst the students. Jule, who was sitting next to Hermione in the back of the room, raised her hand. "Yes, Miss McKay," McGonagall called on her.
"Excuse me professor, but—" she started before McGonagall interrupted her. "If you're behind us Granger can bring you up to speed," she said. "I don't know how far your old teachers got with you."
"It's not that, professor," Jule said politely. "I already read the whole book over the summer, just to make sure," there was a slight gasp from the other students. "I just wanted to tell you that I already know that I'm an animagus. I've been able to change since my first year at my old school."
McGonagall blinked, clearly shocked. "Well then," she said calmly. "Are you registered with the Ministry?"
"In America I am, but I'm still waiting for it to come through over here," Jule answered. "I'm not supposed to change until they say I can."
"Well," McGonagall said. "It's quite alright to change here, under my supervision. The Ministry tends to make an exception for Hogwarts."
"Alright," Jule said, just as calm as McGonagall. And with that she shifted into a bat and started to flap about above the student's heads.
"Very well, Miss McKay," McGonagall sounded slightly shaken up. "You may change back."
Bat-Jule fluttered around for a moment before landing in her chair and changing back, seated properly with her legs crossed primly. The rest of the students clapped enthusiastically. She made small, theatrical bows from her seat, smirking sardonically.
"Alright," McGonagall said. "That's enough." The clapping stopped. "Now, get to work and I will call you up individually."
As the students set to work, Hermione stared at Jule, thinking quickly. /She read the whole book over the summer/ Hermione thought//That's incredible. And she's a natural born animagus, no training required at all. Been doing it since she was eleven! Probably could've earlier, if she hadn't been raised by muggles./ Her mind was racing. What if Jule was smarter than her? What if Hermione wasn't an animagus? What if Jule was the best at everything, and would shove Hermione aside as the top student? Considering she could change into a bat, Snape might take a liking to her, Gryffindor or not, and give her a better grade than Hermione. Snape hated Hermione.
Hermione's hand raced across the parchment, copying down notes while her mind was off elsewhere. It was a talent she had perfected over the years to split her focus so she could copy down notes and day-dream at the same time. She was so engrossed that she was quite shocked to hear McGonagall shout out, "Miss Granger! Please come to the front of the room."
Hermione placed her quill down on the desk and moved towards McGonagall's desk. "Now, Granger," McGonagall started kindly. "Please place your left hand on this globe here." She gestured towards a perfectly round golden ball mounted on a pedestal. Hermione thought it looked a bit like a crystal ball dipped in gold paint.
Once her hand was on it McGonagall began to mutter words over it, moving her wand in an intricate pattern. After several moments McGonagall stopped and stared expectantly at Hermione's hand. Nothing happened. Doubt began to fill Hermione. She had always hoped to be an animagus; it meant she was more likely to take McGonagall's place if she ever retired, something she had always thought might be good once she was old.
After several moments of nothing Hermione sighed and began to withdraw her hand. McGonagall gestured for her to stop, and suddenly something started to happen. Warmth and a strange tingling sensation spread from Hermione's hand to the rest of her body, making her feel as though power had just been poured into her. "What—" she started to say, before it was cut off by a gasp. The tingling had just exploded within her, and the power had escaped from her skin, flooding the room. The entire room was filled with a strange golden glowing, tinged with red in some places. Hermione pulled her hand from the globe, but the glowing continued. When she looked at the golden ball Hermione saw that it had turned clear, as though truly made of crystal. Within it she saw herself, plain old Hermione, standing completely still. Suddenly her image morphed into the form of a large, powerful lioness. Her fur was pure gold, and her eyes were a pure chocolaty brown. The glowing stopped.
Panting, Hermione stepped away from the globe. "What did you see?" McGonagall asked intently.
Still breathing heavily, as though she had just run for a mile, Hermione gasped out, "Lioness." Before collapsing onto the cold stone floor.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
A/N: Hehehe
Preview:
"If I catch you sneaking around here doing weird, American things I'll change the password and keep the new one from you."