Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Writers Notes: thanks to my beta HGranger89 and thanks to everyone reading and following along.
Hermione Granger woke up in her bed in Gryffindor tower, happy to be spending the holidays at Hogwarts. She was thrilled when, about a week before she was due to go home for Christmas, she received a letter from her father saying he was going on a work retreat and it would be best if she stayed at school. Hermione knew this was a code for; he was going to away to get drunk with his rich friends. Hermione hated her father's friends and happily agreed to stay at Hogwarts, knowing if she had been forced to go on the trip, she'd have to talk and play with the sons of his friends. Her father had great plans to marry her off to one of them as soon as he could, being the notorious social climber that he was.
On Christmas morning, the young witch emerged from her dorm room to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast, but her roommates, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, were sitting in front of the fireplace in the common room playing exploding snap and informed her she had received Christmas presents, much to her surprise. Hermione made her way over to the tall Christmas tree and looked through the presents to find one addressed to her by her father. She sighed deeply as she opened the gift, uncovering a dress that seemed far too tight for her already slender frame, and a note telling her, he wanted her to slim down, so the dress would fit her perfectly by the time she came home for the summer. He reminded her that, 'No one loves a fatty patty' and the note also encouraged her to befriend some of the wealthier kids at Hogwarts. She rolled her eyes thinking that most of the wealthy children at Hogwarts wouldn't want to be her friends even if she cared about things like social standing; they were mostly purebloods and wouldn't dare speak to a muggle-born like her.
Sadly Hermione put the dress away, taking it upstairs and lazily throwing it on her bed before finally making her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. That was one thing that Hermione loved about being here; her father couldn't control what she ate. When Hermione came to Hogwarts, she tasted ice cream for the first time, and it... was... so... delicious. She made her way to the nearly empty Great Hall and sat down at the table alone, where she saw Harry and Ron at the end of the table playing wizards chess.
At the staff table, she saw Hagrid, who must have had too much to drink the night before and was still a bit tipsy, kiss Professor McGonagall on her cheek. Hermione could see her Transfiguration Professor's bright red cheeks from here. She also saw the Headmaster cheerfully joking to Professor Snape, who clearly didn't want to be bothered. Severus wasn't even paying attention to the Headmaster; he was glaring over at Quirrell.
Just a few days before Christmas, Hermione had wanted to give Professor Snape a gift for Christmas, but she didn't know what the Potions Master would like. The young Gryffindor asked around to a few of the older students, who just looked at like she was crazy, the older Slytherin's just looked down at her like she was a bug that needed to be stomped on. She asked Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, but they didn't understand why she wanted to give Snape a gift. Eventually, she just decided to make him a card and asked Professor McGonagall to pass it along for her. Her Head of House was concerned as to why one of her cubs wanted to give the Head of Slytherin House a card, knowing full well the rivalry between the two houses. While she and Severus had a professional friendship, even they perpetuated the competition, especially during the Quidditch season. However once the girl mentioned she wanted to give it to Professor Snape as a thank-you for saving her from the troll, Minerva reluctantly agreed to deliver the card to Snape's office.
Hermione took a bit of toast, covering it with jam, when she heard Ron groaning about Hermione's presence and how she would ruin their Christmas holidays. She didn't know why Ron was still complaining about her; she had stopped correcting him, or trying to help him in class. She ignored Ronald Weasley all together, so she had to assume that Ron was jealous that she was smart while he struggled in every class. She pushed any thought of the red-haired boy out of her head, drank a glass of pumpkin juice and finished up her toast.
After her meal, the young girl made her way outside; she loved the snow. It had snowed the night before, and she loved to walk in the white powder. It seemed exceptionally beautiful when it was freshly laid on the Hogwarts grounds. As she stepped outside, she was caught off guard when a snowball smashed her in the face, knocking her to the ground. She wiped the snow away from her face and looked up to see Ron Weasley standing over her, laughing, while Harry just looked at his feet and pretended not to notice what Ron did and the twins shook their heads in disappointment at their younger brother's actions.
"Ron you're a real git," snarled Fred, as Hermione picked herself up and ran back inside.
"Yeah, looks like Percy can hand over the Gittiest Weasley award to you," said George.
"Look you two don't have to sit through class with her!" Ron groaned. "She's just like Percy, she needs to be taken down a few pegs," he said, turning to Harry, "Right?"
"Well..." Harry looked down, scratching the back of his head. "She hasn't been nagging us since Halloween or correcting you in class. Maybe we should leave Hermione alone."
"Whatever." Ron groaned, rolling his eyes.
Hermione ran back inside the castle and began making her way to Gryffindor tower. Halfway there, she ran into Peeves who thought it would be great fun to throw dung bombs at the 'ickle firstie' while calling her names. As she ran down the corridor, trying to find a place to hide away from the poltergeist, she found an open classroom to duck in. Shutting and locking the door, she heard Mr. Filch outside yelling at Peeves for making a foul mess. Hermione took a deep breath and tried to find out where exactly she was in the vast castle. Looking around, Hermione found herself in a large empty room, and the only thing inside was a large gold in-laid mirror.
The young Gryffindor slowly walked over to the mirror and cocked her head curiously. She had never seen a mirror like this before. Looking up at the mirror, she read the inscription running along the top that stated: ''Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi''. She didn't understand the meaning, but she turned to the mirror and gazed at her reflection. Staring into the mirror, she was shocked to see not her reflection, but her future self as Head Girl. She had received Outstandings on all of her N.E.W.T's; her father was finally proud of her accomplishments and academics, not her appearance. She saw her grandparents, who passed away a year ago, smiling at her, and her mother, who had passed away while giving birth to Hermione, beaming at her with a great look of love. Her mother was so pretty, and she had the same eyes and hair colour as Hermione. Not taking her eyes off the mirror, Hermione slowly sank to the cold stone floor in the abandoned classroom and stared up at her family wondering what sort of magic this could be.