Chapter 5 - Lessons
The next day, Hermione rose before anyone else. She woke her snoozing Pokemon. In the safety of her bed with the curtains drawn, Hermione decided it would be okay for both of her Pokemon to be out of their Pokeballs. No one but them had to know. She then returned her new Pokemon to his Pokeball, promising to let him out later to eat. Then she and Chomper went through their morning routine and headed down to the common room. Unsure of how to get back to the Great Hall, they sat in a comfortable silence in one of the armchairs by the fireplace.
Hermione took a look around the common room since she didn't do it last night in her misery turned elation. The common room was mainly decorated in red and gold, the house colors of Gryffindor. It had a cozy feel with the couches and armchairs scattered about. The fireplace that took up most of one wall added to the homely feel the room gave out.
After what seemed like hours to the pair but was in fact only one, up came a large blond from the boy's side. He blinked in surprise when he spotted her. "What are you doing up so early?" He questioned her, completely ignoring the Gible on her lap.
She blinked innocently up at him as he came to stand in front of her. "I'm waiting for someone to come down, so they can show me how to get back to the Great Hall." Hermione responded.
"I'll take you to the Great Hall. Usually the first years are escorted by a Prefect, but I'm headed to the Great Hall, so you can tag along." He told her. "By the way, I'm Oliver Wood. He introduced himself. And your Hermione Granger, the girl with a Gible." He finished, nodding at Chomper.
Hermione blushed in embarrassment. She returned Chomper to his Pokeball. The duo made their way down to the Great Hall in comfortable silence. It was odd considering that they just met.
They were some of the first to arrive at the Great Hall. This was not surprising since it was six in the morning.
Hermione called Chomper back out for breakfast. After he had his fill, she returned him to his Pokeball and called out Eshwick. She then fed him until he was full. She then called him back and brought Chomper back out for a snuggle while she ate.
Soon after she had finished eating, Professor McGonagall came and gave Hermione her schedule.
Without taking a look at her schedule, she recalled Chomper and exited the Great Hall. She remembered the way back to the common room enough to make it back there, even if she got lost a few times.
Once she made it to the common room entrance, she gave the password to the Jynx. She entered the common room then ran up the steps to her dorm room. She grabbed the books and supplies she needed after checking her schedule to see which classes she had today. She then was back out into the hallway searching for her first class.
With the help of a few upper years, Hermione made it to her first class with plenty of time to spare. She called Chomper back out for more cuddle time.
She was really excited for PokeHistory. The history of Pokemon seemed as if it would be quite exciting. Hermione got out her textbook for the class as well as a notebook and pencil to take notes with.
A while later, after all of the students had made it to the classroom, the teacher, Professor Binns, appeared out of nowhere. Literally. The teacher turned out to be a Pokemon. The ghost type Shuppet to be exact. Hermione was excited to learn from an actual Pokemon!
Unfortunately, the Pokemon had a voice that seemed to drone on and on. The monotone voice was enough to put all but the most studious, like Hermione, to sleep within ten minutes. This included Chomper who was snoozing in her arms.
Thanks to her having her textbook out, Hermione realized that what the Shuppet was saying was word for word out of the textbook! She might as well request independent studies for this class and take notes and study directly from the textbook.
As soon as her first class was over, she hurriedly packed up and returned Chomper to his Pokeball. Her head of house was the person that she would have to talk to to get independent study, according to Hogwarts, a History at least.
She got lost again. She made it to class just in time to take a seat before the bell rang. Taking out her textbook for this class, a new notebook, and her pencil, Hermione was ready in record time. She learned that the first semester of Pokemon Breeding with Professor Burbage was going to be about what foods you should be feeding different types of Pokemon.
After class, Hermione goes to lunch, hoping that her head of house will be there so that she can talk to her. She follows after all of her classmates as to not get lost... again.
Entering the Great Hall, Hermione scanned the head table for her head of house. Spotting her, she made her way to the head table. Unsure if she was allowed on the platform that held the table, she stopped at the edge of the platform and called out to her head of house. "Professor McGonagall, may I please speak to you about something important to my schooling."
The Deputy Headmistress considered her. "We will speak after we are both finished eating."
Hermione nodded her understanding. She walked over to the Gryffindor table and called out Chomper after she took a seat. She finished eating as well as feeding both of her Pokemon soon after. Indicating to her head of house that she was done, they both rose from their seats, and Professor McGonagall escorted Hermione to her office.
Once they were seated in the office, Professor McGonagall gestured for her student to go ahead and begin what she wanted to say.
"Professor, I feel that I would advance more quickly through PokeHistory if I had self-study in that class. Professor Binns basically recited from the textbook. I feel that I might even be able to take the end of year test at the end of the semester. I have already read the entire textbook and taken notes for it. I just need to study it a bit more, and I'll be ready. Please give me a chance. If I cannot pass the end of the year final at the end of the first semester, then I will consent to be put back into the class, but at this point of time, I feel that it would be most advantageous for my education to self study. I will of course do any homework assigned in that class for the entire year in this semester." Hermione started to ramble almost as soon as she started. She really hoped that her head of house would grant her request.
"I see," Professor McGonagall replied, looking a tad bit overwhelmed by Hermione's monologue. "I will of course like to see your notes before I give this much more thought."
"Of course, Professor," Hermione beamed, excited that her request just might become a reality. "My notes are in my trunk in the dorm."
With a nod, Professor McGonagall led her charge to the Gryffindor common room. Once in Hermione's dorm room, Hermione dugout her notes from her trunk and handed them over to Professor McGonagall to peruse. The elder of the two scanned the thick set of notes carefully. "These are very good notes, Miss Granger." Hermione preened a little at the complement. "I will personally assign you your homework as well as grade it, just to make sure that it is where it should be. If I do not find it satisfactory, then I will put you back into the class, understood?"
Hermione nodded rapidly, "Yes Professor, I understand." With a terse nod, the professor left her by herself.
Hermione called out Chomper to share the good news with him.
The next day, Hermione only got lost once on the way to Battle Class. She considered that to be an improvement. As she entered the room, she was hit with the stench of garlic. Once class started, Hermione realized that the smell was coming from Professor Quirrell. Another thing that she realized was that he stuttered, badly. It was a bit hard to understand him, but he seemed to have a lot of knowledge in his turban covered head.
The first class started with an overview of what they would be learning, basic battling. They learned how Pokemon moves were classified into three categories; physical, special, and status. They learned how to classify Pokemon moves.
The next class was very simple. It started with just naming all of the Pokemon. It seemed like an easy enough class. It was just memorization. That was the Identification part of 'Pokemon Identification, Information, and Statistics' taught by Professor Vector.
The next day, the fist class was Survival, taught by Professor Babbling. That was the class where they had to set up a camp. Hermione was glad that she had practiced with Chomper. It turns out that they just were talking about the parts of a camp on their first day.
Hermione was disappointed. Had all of that hard work been for nothing? They would be learning, step by step, each part of setting up a camp. In that, at least, she had the advantage, of sorts, of knowing what she was doing.
The next class was Herbs and Berries taught by Professor Sprout. They just had to memorize which berry and which herb was which.
The final class of the week was the next day, considering that the first years had Friday off. That final class of the week was Tracking with Professor Sinistra. The name basically explained the entire class.
