Eye For An Eye: Part I: Ron and Hermione
Disclaimer: Characters from the Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling. All original characters belong to ladykyo and the separatesisters.
NOTE: This story will jump around from pov to pov, so I'll let you know whose pov is being used at the start of each new section/ where the povs change.
ladykyo
Chapter 2: The Lonely Girl
Hermione's pov (the present)
I had the worst first year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ever experienced. I was only eleven years old, and I had no friends. I was born into a muggle, or rather, non-magical family. I had no idea I could do magic, like that with a wand, until a great phoenix landed on our table one morning during at breakfast during a school holiday.
It is my great pleasure to invite Miss Hermione Jane Granger to join our incoming class at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this September. Please arrive sharply at 8:00 am on the date specified at Platform 9 ¾. If you have any questions, please write them down and return them with your reply. Your questions will be answered promptly to ensure Hermione's smooth transition into the wizarding world.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwart's
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Order of Merlin, 1st class
ps—the date will be specified in the reply
to your reply
But I already had strength and power beyond reckoning.
Ever since I was a young child, no more than a babe, really, I could move things with my mind. At first, it was a favorite toy or bauble off of a high shelf. Then it was the cookie jar and a glass to pour my milk into. Lately, or rather, close to my admittance to Hogwart's, I could open heavy doors (that were already unlocked, much to my chagrin), carry my schoolbag and books, and maneuver other large or bulky things without aid of my body.
My parents had always sensed something 'fey' about me; that was how they put it. My eyes were a hazel brown that would flash green when I used my power or became emotional. I did my best to be a dutiful daughter to them, studying and doing extra things to stand out. Physically, I could not compete with other children my age, so I concentrated on my mind and my powers.
My parents didn't even debate or sleep on the decision to send me away to Hogwart's. It wasn't that they didn't love me, or that they wanted to get rid of me, but it was becoming difficult for me to hold myself in check. They wanted me to learn to use my gifts, and to use them for what was good and right. My mother penned a quick reply, and a few weeks later, I was attempting to get into Platform 9 ¾.
I found platform 9, and platforms 8 and 7, but 9 ¾ escaped me. I sighed and focused on my trunks and the cat that my parents had gotten me when we ventured into the wizards' marketplace. As I was about to give up, levitate my things back to my parents' home and assume that the whole thing had been a hoax, a young girl came up behind me.
"Are you looking for Platform 9 ¾ and the Hogwart's Express?" the girl said. She had fey eyes, not unlike mine. Hers flashed blue and brown, though, and I felt a calming, almost healing energy radiating from her.
"Are you lost, little one?" I asked, surprised that at such an age she was so impressive.
"The name's Gin, and no, I'm not lost. I've been here before. You need to run through that pillar there to get to Platform 9 ¾. Take a breath and push on through," and with that she was gone.
I wanted to believe her, and her effect on me was evident. I gathered my courage, looked around to see what muggles could be watching, and I took the plunge!
I made it through, and I saw a horde of wizarding folk. All around me, there were pointed hats and wands and brooms and all the other things that go along with wizardry. I felt home, but my chest felt heavy, as if I carried the weight of another's life on it. I brushed it off and headed for the train, the only child without parents to escort her onto the train.
Not quite the only child like that, I realized as I found a compartment that I had thought to be empty. I poked my head in after I shoved my trunks and the cat, Crookshanks, into the compartment, and I saw a girl with those same fey eyes.
Those eyes, such a bright green I thought they were emeralds set into her face, glared at me angrily. "Who d'you think you are? Hm? Can't you see I want to be alone?"
Her red hair curled the same way my chestnut locks did. "Hermione Granger. Pleased to meet you. Are you muggle-born as well?"
"You're a mudblood! My parents'll love that, they will. Ah, who cares, they don't give a damn about me anyway. The name's Persiopeia Cornelia Black. Don't call me Persy."
"I surely won't. I'm sorry about your parents. Mine couldn't come through, because they're muggles. I bet you have lots of friends already, hmm?"
"Just you, it would appear. Take a nap; we'll reach the school in a few short hours, and the opening feast is long and tiresome."
I was nodding off when a knock sounded on the door. A blonde head popped in. "May I join you ladies? I fear that I've lost the friends I came here with," a girl with a dreamy look on her face said as she entered. Her eyes were a creamy brown, almost milky. I breathed an almost audible sigh of relief when I saw that her eyes didn't have the fey element that mine and Persiopeia's had.
"I'm Hermione and this ravishing redhead is Pia, short for Persiopeia Cornelia Black," I said as I settled back into my seat. Pia glared at me, but I could tell that I'd managed to break the ice completely.
"I'm Luna Lovegood. My father works for the Quibbler, one of the most on the ball wizarding magazines there is. Does anyone feel like this room has grown quite stuffy? I feel as if a person is sitting on my chest," Luna said hazily as her eyes seemed to focus first at the air above my chest, then at that above Pia's.
"Yeah, now that you mention it," Pia said thoughtfully. "'Mione?"
Great, now I had a nickname. "Yeah. It feels like something, or someone, rather, is missing. Do you think perhaps some students were left behind?"
"No, that wouldn't happen here. Some of the staff are on site at the platform to keep that from happening," Pia said quickly.
"Maybe sight is the problem," Luna said quietly. Pia and I looked at Luna, who turned to lean against the wall to nap, then we shared a look.
"I think we all need some rest."
Fate was rather cruel when we arrived at Hogwart's. It turned out that Hogwart's, as a proper boarding school, was divided into dormitories or Houses, as they were called here. The Houses of Hogwart's were Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindor hates Slytherin, Hufflepuff tends to side with Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw typically casts their lot with Slytherin.
I was put into Gryffindor, Luna ended up in Ravenclaw, and Pia, who would turn out to be one of my best friends, got drawn into Slytherin.
Logic would dictate that Pia and Luna would get closer, and that I would become rivals with Luna and enemies with Pia. No such thing happened; Pia and I became even closer, while Luna stayed on the fringes, more concerned with the weights we carried unseen than with girls' nights and guys.
One night, close to the end of the school term, having snuck Pia into my dorm for a girls' night along with my roommates, we were talking about boys. I remember that it was a rather unusual night, for Luna had graced us with her presence.
"So, who's the dreamiest guy on campus?" Lavender Brown said. She was a roommate of mine, and we rarely saw eye to eye. Trust Lavender to bring boys up, when we needed to study for finals and the NEWTs that we would be taking as fifth-years.
Pavarti, Lavender's best friend and accomplice, started us off. "I think that Flint, the Slytherin quidditch captain, isn't too bad."
"How about Crabbe and Goyle?" Lavender said. "One for Hermione, one for Pia!"
"It seems like those two are always looking for someone to tell them what to do, though," Luna said off-handedly. To tell the truth, we all thought she had gone to sleep.
Pia was about to defend her housemates when a new voice chimed in. "I think Luna's right. They run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Pansy Parkinson can usually calm them down, but they are missing something. Those two just aren't quite right."
We all turned to the now-open doorway. In it stood Brenna Ianevski and Andrea MacGarry, the former rivals, now best friends who had set a record for most House points lost in the first month of term. They had lost more points in the first month of their first term at Hogwart's than any before them. Brenna was tall and curvy, even at only thirteen years old; she had red hair to match Pia's and blue eyes that burned all the time, with a fire of some sort or another. Andrea was not quite as tall as Brenna, but just as curvy; she had platinum blonde hair and green eyes that flashed fey just as Pia's did. The girls cleaved to one another, often referred to as the sisters separated by House, as they were almost inseparable. On top of that, they were both accomplished animagus, without even being of wizarding age. Those who didn't envy them feared them. What you did to one, you did to the other, so every action had twice the consequences.
Andrea shot Brenna a look before she opened her own mouth. "I must concur. Pia, you must be careful; you don't want to break our record, with you sneaking over here all the time."
Pia laughed. "So, you're not really here, then?"
"Of course I'm here, my dear. Where else would I be but with my sister?"
"On that note, I think Pavarti and I'll skiv off to the common room. We heard that the house-elves leave candies for the first-years," Lavender said, much to everyone's relief. She was nice enough, but really too much when paired with Pavarti.
Andrea shot a look at Brenna as they entered and charmed the door locked. "I wonder where she heard that from?"
Brenna smiled and sat, motioning for Andrea to do the same. "Hm, probably the same person who left sleep-charmed candies for those two to find. Hermione, don't worry. For next year, I've requested to room with you. You're no Andi, but I'll deal."
"Gee, thanks. Who'll be our third?" I said with a bemused expression.
"Probably some first year. But not Lavender, I promise you that my dear," Brenna said as she reached into her robe and produced a wealth of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.
"Oh, Bren, you remembered!" Andrea said, mock longing in her voice.
"Do you two feel that heaviness?" Luna broke in, her voice uncharacteristically strong. I looked at Pia, whose eyes were shut. Brenna and Andrea were the same way. I followed suit, and I thought I saw someone looking into my eyes through the lids.
"I think it's time for sleep. No more of this tonight. And speak to no one of this. This is old, powerful magic. Let it be, don't tap into it, promise me that, girls," Brenna said in an authoritative voice.
"Andrea," Pia began, but Andrea cut her off.
"No. This is strange, and Brenna and I will begin to investigate, but not you three, not now. Sleep, and in the morning, remember to keep it to yourselves," Andrea said in a voice that brooked no arguments.
After that night, we didn't speak of the heaviness, not even amongst ourselves. We were all afraid. I plunged into my private studies, ancient books on the lost art of telekinesis. No one was supposed to be able to perform it anymore, but I could. It seemed from the histories that the ability had died out around the 5th century ME, with the beating back of the Romans from what would become the British Isles. It seems that wizards were responsible for the lives that were saved and the eventual throwing out of the Roman troops. The last recorded wizard to use telekinesis was a Celt whose name was scrubbed out from the parchment that held the story.
Our end of year exams came and went. During my studies for the exams, I often found myself turning to explain an answer and found that no one had asked me anything. I took to spending all my time with Brenna and Andrea or Luna and Pia. None of us seemed to trust ourselves anymore. My grades were top of the class, but I kept checking the middle and bottom portions of the grade listings, like I was checking for someone else. No one; but I felt as if something or someone was missing.
As I traveled back to my parents and the comfort of home, I managed to push all thoughts of the heaviness and my searches for non-existent people to the back of my mind. I thought that I was rid of that strangeness, but my telekinesis grew stronger. Things were otherwise okay, until I boarded the Hogwart's for my second year.
That' when I saw her.