If Dr. Jane Granger could lay eyes on her daughter right now, there would be a severe look on her face. Hermione wouldn't ever call the look her mum gives her when she's doing something unladylike a glare. It's just this look Hermione receives and she knows she's in trouble.
That's the look Hermione knows she would be receiving right now. She could just hear her mum now. "Hermione Jean Granger. What are you doing running all throughout this house? You are well aware that is extremely unladylike and I will not tolerate such behavior. Up to your room and I expect a paragraph as to why running in the halls is unladylike in 30 minutes."
She doesn't have a chance to think more about it because just as she rounds the corner she sees the dynamic duo walking towards her. She slows down as she gets closer and comes to a stop when she is a few feet from them.
Hermione doesn't get a chance to say anything before the two start talking.
"Granger! We were looking for you." Weasley says.
"Clearly not well enough if you're just heading to the library." Hermione snarks at the two, crossing her arms.
"Er, well.. Anyway." Potter sputters. "We need your help. There's this potion riddle blocking the way."
She can't help but let the surprise show on her face, they're actually getting to the point without trying to lie. Weird. "To what?"
Potter grimaces. "It's uh, a goblet." Ok, maybe not. "That's being locked away. And we really want the goblet because it uh…"
"Heals people who drink from it!" Ron interrupts.
Hermione rolls her eyes and scoffs. "Go away you two. I need to get Professor Snape." She makes to leave, but Potter puts his hands up.
"Please Granger, we need help!"
"Tell me the truth."
"I can't."
"Then I can't help you. Goodbye." She brushes his hands away and continue to walk towards her destination.
"I have to steal the stone before someone else does."
Hermione smirks and looks over her shoulders at the two. "Let's go."
With a glance between the two, and then a look at Hermione. They finally nod and take off. Hermione follows behind. But then she stops.
"Wait." She says, and the Dynamic duo pauses and then they turn towards her.
"What now." Weasley whines. Hermione gives the red haired boy a look.
"What happened to the dragon?" Hermione directs her question towards Potter. She's pretty sure if she tried talking to Weasley she would only get a headache in return.
The two boys share a look. Hermione glares at them and crosses her arms. "Don't bother trying to lie. I'll see through it."
Apparently saying that doesn't help convince them, because after that leaves her mouth they huddle together. And start to whisper furiously back and forth. Hermione shoots her eyes up to the roof of the castle and breathes through her nose.
"I just want to know if that creature is in a safe sanctuary or not." Hermione adds, she thought about using her actual manners on this one, but she also sorta thinks that they don't really deserve her at her nicest, or best.
Her new remark seems to have worked because Potter turns to her. "Ron's brother works at a Dragon Preserve. That's where she is now."
Hermione gives a quick nod. "Good. Now we can go."
She's somewhat shocked when they go to the third floor, and she frowns when she sees the door ajar.
"The door is already open." She voices her concern.
Potter waves it off. "We've been here plenty of times. We probably just forgot to close it."
Hermione's frown deepens as they enter the room, a harp is lying there with a three headed dog that looks to be slowly waking up. She can't believe it.
"Cerberus actually exists?!" Hermione excitedly whispers, not really directing it towards anyone. She just merely couldn't hold it in anymore, she never once thought she'd be able to actually see the dog guarding the stone. She makes a note that Harry pulls out a flute and begins to play.
"Cerberus? No. That's Fluffy." Weasley says. Hermione looks at him from the corner of her eyes and then back to the supposedly mythical creature. The large dog back to sleep.
"I'm surprised the two of you even made it this far, Potter you play horribly." Hermione says to the back of the boy who lived. They walk towards an open trap door. She really does have a bad feeling about this, but she's already voiced her concerns. No point in wasting her breath. Potter jumps through the door first, Weasley following shortly after.
Hermione peers down the dark square hole in the floor, looking over her shoulder at the door she bites her lip. Her gaze goes back to the hole, taking a deep breath she follows.
She lets out a very soft oomph as she lands on something quite bumpy, blinking a couple of times at the dim lighting she finds Potter and Weasley. "What is this?" She asks, she swears its moving.
"We know it's something called Devil's Snare and as long as we stay still we eventually get to the floor. It just takes a reallllllllllly long time."
Hermione frowns and takes her wand out. "Honestly, don't you two read! This could actually kill you! Devil's Snare doesn't like light or fire. But allow me."
"Lacarnum inflamari." She says as she ends the swish towards the Devil's Snare. A bright flash of orange started pouring out of her wand. As soon as the fire landed on the Devils Snare it began to wiggle harshly and before she knew it she was forced to cut off the flame as she fell down to the lower level. She landed on her feet but the force of the fall caused her to wobble and fall on her backside.
"Ow. That hurt!" She forces out through clench teeth as she stands back up again. She rubs at her sore tailbone and then glares at the two. "Well let's go. You won't have to worry about that plant anymore."
The threesome walk in a somewhat awkward silence. She was just fine that there was no chatter, but the other two seemed to be anxious about it. Especially if the glances they kept giving each other was anything to go by. She rolls her eyes as they get to a room with the door opened.
"We've solved these next two rooms for good. They never reset after our first time through." Potter says as he walks through the door. Small little clinking noises followed his every foot step. Hermione walks through the door after allowing the red head to go in first. She closes the door behind her, just in case. She looks down as she enters to see a bunch of keys on the floor.
Fascinating.
After walking past a rather large pile of gold keys, she sees the exit. Another door of course. She walks through the exit and into a well lit room. "What -."
"It was a giant game of wizarding chest!" Potter exploded in excitement. "I never would have been able to get through without Ron!" He praised and threw a grin towards his best friend. Ron's hand went to the back of his head scratching at it lightly while his face flushed bright red.
"I told you it was nothing."
Hermione looks at Weasley, and then the mess of what she assumes was the chess pieces and the board. She takes in the apparent carnage. "That's actually impressive Weasley. Good job." His face only gets redder. "Never would have taken you to be someone with a brain." Weasley's proud smile was quickly reduced to a glare at the curly haired witch.
"It's the one after this next one that we can't get through." Potter says as they climb over the wreckage that the chess board is now.
Hermione hums in response. They fall into a silence again but they finally reached the end of the chess board. Great, she thought. Another door.
They go through the next door and they're all in shock over the stench. Quickly covering her nose and mouth with one hand, she starts pushing on Potter's back. Seemingly getting the hint he starts going faster. They make it out of the room in record time, exiting through another door.
Instead of a room though it was a hallway. The hallway was lined with torch scones every few feet, the end of the hallway though was dark. The trio walked on. When they finally reached the end of the hall.
She takes in the dim room. Right in the middle of it sat a very simple wooden table with a red runner on it. On top of the table runner sat 7 potions.
The first potion was milky white in color and sat in a spherical tube. The one right next to it was bright red and sat in a tall triangular tube. After that was a light blue potion in a tiny square bottle, which sat next to a burnt orange potion in a tube taller than the red one but had a spherical bottom. Next to the burnt orange potion sat a dark green potion in a bottle that was just barely bigger than the bottle that held the light blue potion. A large black bottle sat besides the green one, this bottle was the largest one of them all. And the last one was a purple sludge looking potion that also sat in a spherical bottle.
Next to the bottles lay a rolled parchment with a ribbon tied to it. She grins and looks at the two.
"Brilliant. This isn't magic — it's logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever." She goes towards it and the two follow.
They all jump when a strong whoosh sounds around them and flames began to sprout from the floors. Purple flames lick at them from behind them and black laid in front of them.
"At least they don't produce heat." She mumbles and then grabs the parchment. She unwraps the ribbon tied around it and unfurls it.
"Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here for evermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onwards neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight."
Hermione bites her lip and then looks back at the seven potions lining the table. She plops down her school bag, and grabs her quill and her three ink pots. She places everything on the table. Her gaze then turns to the two boys.
"Go." She waves her hand towards them in a dismissal. "I'll tell you when I'm done." She then turns back to the potions, the riddle, and her parchment to write on.
She hasn't looked up from her project since she started, but if you asked Hermione how long she's been figuring out this riddle she wouldn't be able to tell you. If the crink in her neck is anything to go by though, it's probably along the lines of 10 minutes now. She looks over her notes. Then she grins.
"I got it!" She announces, and grabs the third and seventh bottle. The two reappear at her side. She hands Potter the small light blue potion. "That's the way forward. Unfortunately, there's only enough for one person." She rolls her eyes at this, then shakes the purple one with a grimace as she sees the potion actually act like sludge. "This will help us go back." She uncorks and takes a swig, handing the bottle to Weasley. "Make sure you leave it for Potter. Good bye." She ignores them when they try to get her attention, waving her hand in the air. She couldn't see the stone, no point in waiting around.
Hermione sighs as she closes the door behind her. She stares at it for a minute, shakes her head and decides it's time to head for her common room. As she's walking though she does realize she feels lighter than she has all year. She really did figure everything out that she wanted too. She pauses in her walking.
Well, except who was behind it all. She taps her chin, as she looks skyward. But then decides that she'll find that out in the morning. Those two idiots probably have no idea. So she continues walking, and starts to think back on her first year.
She made her first real friend in Daphne.
She's currently leading her house in points, she's accumulated just a little over 75 points to their 400-something. Putting them well into the lead.
She was able to get Professor Snape to agree to extra lessons to further her studies.
She helped the Dynamic duo solve multiple riddles, and she was able to solve one of the hardest puzzles she's ever come across.
All in all, she's had a pretty great year.
She enters her common room, and walks up to her dorm room. It's time for her to get a well deserved good night sleep.
Hermione's final week at Hogwarts was coming to a close. She's sitting next to Daphne in the Great Hall, giggling into her hand. The Great Hall was decorated in honor of Slytherin winning the house cup. There was a pleasant buzz in the air, when Dumbledore stood up. He raises his arms up and as soon as he did, everyone was quiet.
"Thank you." He smiles. Hermione looks at the head table for the first time since she came into the hall. Everyone is seated. Everyone except for Professor Quirrell. Hermione scrunches her nose. He was behind everything? That was, well than. "It has come to my attention that there are some acts of bravery that have happened recently and deserve some points."
Hermione glares at the Dynamic duo at Gryffindor's table. She wasn't liking where this was going.
"To Ronald Weasley 70 points for an outstanding game of chess."
No. Daphne grabs Hermione's hand and starts to squeeze.
"To Harry Potter, 90 points for outstanding bravery and wit."
Hermione bites her lip. It's ok. They're tied. Maybe Dumbledore won't forget about her and she'll be rewarded for solving the potion puzzle. Her ears begin to roar.
"And finally. 10 points to Neville Longbottom because while standing up to your enemies is hard, standing up to your friends for what you believe is right is even harder." Suddenly Dumbledore's eyes locked with Hermione's. Then with a smile from him and a seemingly innocent gesture of putting his nose just slightly in the air he raises his arms up and with a swish of his robes everything changes from Slytherin green and silver to Gryffindor red and gold. The Great Hall was in an uproar. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff where all celebrating the fall of Slytherin.
What? Hermione thinks. She's completely numb to everyone around her. She's too shocked, there was no way. He wouldn't, there was no way that was intentional. Shocked brown honey eyes locked straight with emerald. But as soon as her eyes registered she was looking at Potter's her shocked gaze turned into one that was cold and harsh.
It wasn't fair. She worked all year, she worked so hard to raise her house up so they would at least accept her academically. It was sort of working, no one was really calling her a mudblood in her house anymore. Only Malfoy and Malfoy really didn't count. She breaks her stare off of Potter and she turns her glare to Dumbledore.
She helped those two prats out and they dare do this to her? And Dumbledore, how dare he. He knows she was there. He knows that she was the one who solved that potion riddle. And he's going to act as if she's nothing? As if she's noone?
Almost as if… No.
She looks down to the plate that has suddenly appeared in front of her. Not registering the food that is in her peripheral vision either. She clenches her jaw.
If Dumbledore wants to think of her as a nobody then fine, she smirks to her plate. Her eyes on fire.
She'll be a nobody.
