Chapter 11

Hermione returned to the common room in high spirits. Not in the secular sense, like being happy, but in the spiritual sense. She was light, insightful, and filled with the Spirit. It was like being perfectly peaceful. Peaceful because a load had been lifted off her shoulders now and she felt immensely grateful for it.

Hence Hermione was disconcerted to see the chaotic state of the common room when she returned. All the procrastinators of Gyffindor were in the common room – ink, quills, parchment and books anywhere they could find space – attempting to rush through their Monday-due homework.

"Hey!" Hermione whirled around to see Fred, George, and Lee all holed up in a corner of their own, waving her over. "Spitfire! Come on, it's homework time!"

"I've already done mine," she pointed out, even as they dragged her to the corner. "I don't do homework on Sundays."

"But we're working on that 'Dangers of Transfiguration' essay."

Another red head popped up from his homework, face contorted in confusion. "But that's our essay too!"

Oh, she realized, it was Ron. The first-year who the twins hoisted her off on for the boat ride. Harry was next to him, and Neville, and they all had homework in lap.

"'fessor McGonagall assigns it as first essay every year, firsties," Lee told them with an eyeroll. "Different spells in the essay, but same general thing. She doesn't give them back though, to make sure you write the next one. 'Getting you all into a safe mindset for learning,' she says."

His McGonagall brogue was good, making everyone in the common room giggle. Apparently some other groups were working on that essay too, because they all gave sympathetic coos to the first-years.

"Wait, that means you can help us!" Ron exclaimed happily.

The twins tutted at their little brother. "And deprive you of the first essay you'll ever write for our Gryffindor Head of House? We still have our own essay to write, you know."

Hermione giggled, but moved over to the red-headed boy who looked positively shamed by his brothers. "I'm finished my homework, though. I've never been a first-year, but I might be able to help if you like."

At first she wasn't sure her offer would be well-received, but when Harry looked up at her in disbelief – a strange incredulous look, as if he didn't expect anyone to offer him help – she knew she'd made the right choice. A protective feeling for this small boy rose up in her hazardously quickly, taking her off-guard. It was born from the warm feeling she'd had since resolving things with Professor Snape, but that just let her know it was right. Confusing, but right.

"It might help me catch up in the curriculum, right?" This was directed to Fred and George, who actually looked disappointed that she wasn't coming over.

"I guess we can loan you to ickle Ronniekins for one night," Fred whined.

But George jumped in, "But we're still shouting potions questions at you!"

The twins and Lee tucked back into their homework and Hermione plopped herself down in the mandatory two feet between Ron and Harry – guys were strange. "So, the essay?"

Ron was the one who spoke, going on about how difficult the assignment was and how they were expected to know everything the first week of class, but Hermione got more out of looking down at Harry's parchment. She read his opening paragraph and frowned.

"'Transfiguration can be dangerous because you could make something you don't mean to'?" Hermione read aloud, making Harry blush furiously. "No, no, you need something better. You need a thesis statement too. This first bit is all wrong."

"I made mine about what can cause a transfiguration to become dangerous and used certain spells as examples," she informed Harry. "Like not knowing the object you're transforming, not knowing what you're turning them into, not following the rules for Transfiguration, and then not knowing the actual spell properly. Then the spells going wrong are just examples. And then I just used some of the times I did spells wrong for examples."

She jumped and grabbed a book from her bag.

"You can use the third-year book for reference, if you want!" Hermione jumped excitedly. "I think each year's text has a similar section with warnings and examples of spells gone wrong. This one has a story about a wizard who forgot that his toad familiar breathed through his skin and when he turned it into a box left the skin, but without the ability to process the air. The frog died trying to breathe as a box. And animagus transformations are terrifying! If you end up as, like a crab or an insect, and you forget that those animals don't have spine before you transform you might break your own."

Neville and Harry looked terrified now, their awed horror making her flush. Why couldn't she control her mouth?

"They're rare situations, though," Hermione insisted, trying to put them more at ease. "Most Transfiguration mistakes are fixable. I once tried to transfigure my dad's model plane into a bird but forgot to think of the feet, and so it ended up with wheels instead. It was kind of funny watching it slide all over the desk."

"Really, the danger with Transfiguration isn't with the small things like matchsticks to needles – anything that can be undone with a finite, really – but with the larger magics. Animate to inanimate, large-scale transfigurations and vice-versa, or Animagus transformation. It's really fascinating to see how much goes into magic sometimes."

Harry nodded emphatically, but she thought she'd lost the other two boys when she mentioned the airplane. Either way, they no longer looked afraid because of the toad story and she eagerly took that momentum and put it into their essays.

"Let's get to it!" Hermione clapped.

She saw Harry flinch away from her, just a little stiffen really, and something about it made her frown.

The next hour was spent helping them with their homework. She didn't really do much because, really, they were doing fine on their own. They only needed a sounding board and some examples to help them understand.

She worked them through Transfiguration and Astronomy, but when they went into Potions she saw the shy little boy called Harry Potter get angry for the first time.

"It doesn't matter how good I do! He'll never let me pass the class!" Harry scribbled an answer forcibly, splattering ink everywhere. "He hates me!"

"He's just a little … cutting," Hermione tried to defend him. "But he's really a good man."

Ron and Harry shot her disbelieving looks.

"He tore into me for taking notes! First class! And asked a bunch of questions that weren't even in the chapter just to humiliate me in front of the everyone!" Harry's quill really splattered this time and Hermione quickly cast a tergeo on his last paragraph to siphon it off. "Snape hates me!"

Hermione listened as Ron confirmed Harry's account and wondered what Professor Snape was doing it for. He was rude in class, yes, but … no, it was like her first day. He'd called her out, asked her to display her talent, and then even when she did he brought that right back down to the same level as her classmates.

Maybe he did that to someone in every class? Or year/house? But why?

"I'll help you, Harry," Hermione reassured him. "I'm sure the Professor will start to respect you if you do well in class."

"Really?" Harry looked up with wide eyes.

Hermione didn't feel comfortable making promises, but she nodded.

"If this doesn't work, we'll think of something else. But what teacher doesn't like smart students?" She smiled brightly. "Come on, we'll make this essay perfect!"