She had hidden her blessed apple in the shed where her parents couldn't find it. It was meant to be displayed in the storage barn to share its blessing with the rest of the crops, but as most of their apples were in crates inn the shed, that would have to suffice. She didn't want one of her parents to accidentally eat it, unsure what the consequences were and certain it would be dire.
She had woken from the festival long before it had drawn to a close, finding the apple beside her on the bed. The wild magic of the night before still surged through her as she lived her second harvest festival. The school had put a basked of vegetables on an orange cloth in the chapel and the priest droned on for a bit about how God had blessed them. It all felt rather dull and drab and she wondered at how much had been lost in the past century. As far as she was aware, even muggles had celebrated harvest back then.
The biggest surprise came on Sunday. She received a summons from the duelling room where she and Gellert were working on shield charms. She glanced nervously over to Gellert, his own tight expression mirroring hers, then at his bidding she hurried from the room.
The path to Lady Grindelwald's drawing room was familiar now, she had had several morning meetings with her potential sponsor. The doors were shut, and she knocked smartly against the frame - it always seemed slightly sacrilegious to knock against the carved unicorns. The summons was familiar too, a sharp "herein" barked by the stern woman who was to become her magical guardian.
What was unfamiliar was the second witch in the room. She wore blood red robes, trimmed in black with a fur lined cloa hanging over her shoulder. Blond hair was braided up over her hair into a crown, secured with a ruby comb. Hermione rose from her curtesy as the witch turned towards her, vaguely recognising the witch who'd played the sun in the harvest ritual. Her friendly smile was a direct contrast to Lady Grindelwald's stern expression but there was a glow of pleasure deep within the older woman's eyes.
'Hermione, Anneken requested to meet with you.' Lady Grindelwald didn't turn away, but it was evident she was impatient to move on to more important matters. 'An elf will show you to a suitable room.'
Flighty popped up and Anneken stood with envious grace. Hermione would bet her right hand no teacups would have dropped from her head with the movement. Her robe was like a dress, with a slit cut up the left side to above her knee. She wore black boots, and the long cloak over her shoulder helped to cover her exposed leg when she walked. The dress was a little more scandalous than she imagined Gellert was used to, but Lady Grindelwald seemed to find the style inoffensive. Hermione felt very childish in her little blue petticoats as she hurried to keep up.
The room they were taken to was just off the children's wing and a step less opulent than the room she usually met with Lady Grindelwald in. It was certainly a day room though, with pale green settees and wallpaper, pale parquet floors and a delicate fireplace. Flighty lit the fire with a snap of her fingers and Anneken took a seat. Hermione served the delicate french earl grey and passed it to the older witch who was watching with a critical eye.
They sat in awkward silence, Hermione watching the fire and Anneken watched her. The tea cooled to drinkable and Hermione took a sip. Anneken's sat cooling on the side table.
'I owe you thanks.' Anneken said into the silence, lifting her hand to show a sparkling ruby bracelet. 'I was to become the next Lady Grindelwald, but you've released me from that obligation. My father signed my betrothal to the man I love last night.'
Hermione made congratulatory noises and Anneken sat back with a light laugh.
'Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I know exactly what you're going through. I'd like to be something of a mentor to you, if you'd like. Lady Grindelwald isn't exactly someone you can share things with...'
'What do you want in return?' Hermione asked suspiciously, remembering suddenly Lady Grindelwald's warnings about never trusting someone's intentions. Anneken seemed delighted by her answer and leaned forwards conspiratorially.
'I want to be a part of your coven.'
'My coven?'
'Well, you'll have your own coven of course. You'd hardly be anything but a high witch with the potential you have. I want to be a part of it.' Assuming you take Alice and that Russian girl as well as whatever girls end up attending Hogwarts with you...'
'Hogwarts?' Hermione interrupted. The girl's accent was light, but she was certain she'd miss heard the word.
'Oh, Hogwarts is the British school. Lady Grindelwald told me that you will not attend Durmstrang. I don't understand her choice, Britain has always been restrictive of true magic, perhaps because they prioritise bloodlines over power. They have all but bred true power out of their old families and many no longer have the ability to perform more than basic wizardry. You would learn far more at Durmstrang, but it is not my place to question. Instead I will endeavour to fill in the gaps in your education.'
'Gaps?' Hermione echoed, feeling a little overwhelmed. She had private tutors five days per week and met with Lady Grindelwald for a morning. Her homework load was colossal and she wasn't even at real magic school yet.
'Oh, Lady Grindelwald will educate you, but she is traditional and tradition is being left behind. I want to teach you to bring tradition into the 19th Century!' Hermione's mind flashed to the daring slit in her dress-robe. She'd been wearing a similarly bold dress for the ritual, the metallic cloth had hugged her down to her thighs, then flared out. Her shoulders had only just been covered too, by a set of gold beaded epaulettes. Hers had been a grandmother's nightgown in comparison.
'I don't want to offend Lady Grindewald.'
'Oh, you wont. You'd offend her more by following her every whim.' Anneken dismissed her with a casual wave of her hand. 'Grindelwalds are leaders, not followers. We must wait a couple of years of course, but she would be disappointed if you didn't eventually argue with her.'
The older witch instructed her to stand and they moved over to the brightest area of the room near the window. Anneken's first lesson consisted of learning her skin tone - neutral, Anneken was cool. That meant she could wear pretty much anything whist Anneken had to limit herself to certain colours. The other girl made her unbraid her hair next and held it up to the light, identifying the exact colour. Hermione had always called her hair brown, but under Anneken's rules it became warm coco. The witch them performed a very impressive charm, conjuring a mirror and pulling her hair into different styles. She had a large forehead, something that Anneken said in a manner so factual that it somehow wasn't offensive. She was shown how to brush her fringe in such a way that it narrowed and shortened the top of her head.
Anneken instructed her on a series of charms and potions that would help her fall smoothly, but recommended that she avoid them until after her bleed - her hair was a magical extension of herself and stunting it could stunt her magical growth. Until then she would have to use braided hairstyles to force it into submission.
Her twin braids weren't good enough. But if she pinned the two braids backwards around her head like a headband, she was making her chin look angelic and pointy... She was certain that she missed half of the lecture, but everything said was fashion gold.
The next Monday she tried out the hairstyle at school, receiving a couple of surprised looks for her efforts. The next day she wore her hair in a bun, brushing a couple of strands down beside her face to stop it being too severe. One of Jessica Manly's friends complimented the style, saying it looked very adult.
She hated that her classmates would only like her if her hair was done up, but this was not a competition she intended to lose. She had set herself behind on day one with the salad in her lunch, and it was unlikely that she would ever get anything but salad. She would have to become doubly cool to make up for it, cool enough to set the trends.
Muggle school, she decided, would be her practice run. She would make her mistakes here, learn her lessons, practice and then, by the time she made her debut into Hogwarts, she would be ready to become a leader like Lady Grindelwald.
The next day she twisted gold ribbons through her hair (gold was okay to wear with her warm coco... She packed a second pair of gold ribbons and when Jessica's friend made another compliment, Hermione offered to do the same for her. The girl seemed a little nervous but eventually her desire for the hairstyle won out. Hermione braided her hair, talking about how lucky the other girl was to have such beautiful straight hair.
The day after she french braided it, but used the same ribbon in both braids so it crossed her head like a headband. The other girl - Lily, brought a couple of others this time and they'd all brought their own ribbons. Hermione took them with a smile and held the ribbons up to the girls. Then she carelessly noted that one of them really shouldn't be wearing lilac with her hair tone, and recommended she swap for the emerald that another girl had. By the end of lunch she was officially the fashion guru. Jessica apparently knew nothing about hair tones.
The day after that she had a couple of butterfly pins down the length of a Dutch fishtail and finally Jessica joined her at lunch. The other girls all had clumsy imitations of her ribbon braids, Jessica included. The other girl, desperate to regain some control over the situation, looked at the carrot sticks in Hermione's lunch box and made a disparaging comment. Hermione looked over hers and sneered in return.
'Ew are those quavers? Do you know how many calories are in those?' She sneered. The girls all tittered and one pulled her own quavers from her box.
'OMG! There's like, 88 calories and half of that is fat.' The girl exclaimed. 'That's terrible.'
Hermione smugly crunched on her celery sticks. Score 1-0 Hermione.