Hi everyone,
I'm glad to hear that you like the last chapter, so here's another one :)
I just noticed that my lead is dwindling. I have only two more chapters finished, which means I'll have to start writing again. I admit I have been rather slacking in that regard and now with exam time coming up at Uni, I'm a bit worried about keeping my Monday rhythm.
But I will do my best to not let you down.
Here you go, enjoy your week.
Chapter Fifteen
When she arrived in the Great Hall the first students were already trickling in. She found Fleur sitting at the teacher's table discussing something with Frederick, the new History of Magic teacher. She stood rooted to the spot right at the entrance and watched her, following her elegant gestures when explaining something to the wizard and the way her brow furrowed when she tried to follow his explanations in his broad Welsh accent.
'I suggest you take a seat, Ms Granger, I'm sure the view is just as good from there,' Headmistress McGonagall quipped as she brushed past her protegé.
Hermione blushed and after a second followed her teacher's suggestion.
Luckily, she didn't have long to ponder her embarrassment. Ginny had entered the Great Hall and quickly joined her at the table, greeting her with an effusive hug.
'It's so good to finally see you, Hermione.' Ginny said.
'It's good to see you too. How is everyone?'
'It's getting better. George is taking it the hardest obviously. Mum is still torn between hating Fleur for leaving Bill and liking her for making you happy but all the grief is making it hard for her to decide. She'll come around soon, though. So how are things with you and Madame Delacour?' Ginny asked excitedly. She was never malicious about it but she loved her gossip.
In the meantime, the other students had filtered into the Great Hall and Hermione noticed that Fleur had left her seat and was nowhere to be found.
'Where is Fleur?' Hermione asked.
'I've just seen her leave through there. Don't worry. She'll back,' Ginny teased.
'What's up with him? Fallen from grace, it looks like,' Ginny said and nodded in the direction of Slytherin table.
Hermione turned her head and saw Draco sitting a little further down the table, with enough space for at least five more students between him and the rest of his house. He wore a sullen expression on his face and stared at the wood of the table in front of him, clearly avoiding eye contact. It was then, that Hermione noticed that none of the tables were full with just enough space for the first years, as it usually was the case. The Slytherin table was especially low in population. Hermione frowned at the thought of the amount of blood this war had demanded.
Before Hermione could say anything, the doors opened and Fleur led in the frightened first years. Her mood brightened instantly and she proudly smiled at the French witch as she walked up the aisle to the waiting chair and hat. Fleur winked at Hermione. Her surprise had apparently worked. She turned her head back to the front and merrily walked towards the hat.
After the sorting ceremony, Fleur returned to her seat between Frederick and Hagrid. She chanced a glance at the crowd, spotted Hermione and flashed her a quick smile before being distracted by her neighbour.
'You're completely whipped!' Ginny intoned triumphantly.
Hermione whirled around to refute her statement when Headmistress McGonagall asked for everyone's attention, please. In her usual, serene stoicism and a steady, calm voice she delivered her first welcome speech as the headmistress.
'Most of you here have seen things that no child should see, most of you were forced to grow up much faster than you should have. The war has taken its toll on all of us and we are still struggling to cope, to understand, to heal.
It is my hope that as a society we can learn from the horrors of the past and rebuild our world in a way that makes it impossible for such evil to be bred right in our midst, undetected and unopposed.
We will honour the victims by making sure their deaths were not in vain.
As a school we have the unique opportunity to shape the minds of the next generation and I believe it is our duty to not only fill your minds with knowledge but also your hearts with kindness, so that you leave here as compassionate and educated adults with a solid moral compass and appreciation for diversity and change.
Change is the keyword. There will be a lot of it at Hogwarts this year,' MacGonagall solidly delivered her speech before launching into explanations of what would be new this year.
'There are quite a few changes in the curriculum. We need to teach wizards and witches more about muggles. Therefore, I have agreed to add four new subjects to the curriculum. Muggle History, Culture and Sciences. These start in the second year. The first years will attend a mandatory open learning space where they will learn about basics. It will continue for the higher years as a free elective. I am hoping that muggle born children will explain and show wizard born children what the muggle world has to offer.'
'As you can see, the house system will continue to exist. This means that the Quidditch Cup will be held as usual. However, I have abolished any and all extracurricular clubs we have had so far. I want them to be founded anew. The rule is that no matter which club is founded, it has to be open to all houses. This is also true for the interhouse Quidditch club, where everyone who didn't make the team or those who just want to have fun, can play Quidditch together. All these new rules will also be posted on the pin boards in your common rooms.'
'As hinted at earlier, our motto "change" is also evident in the choice of staff for this year. Please welcome our new muggle teachers Alexandra Whistlepot who will teach our open learning space, Vincent Newport, Muggle History, Karen Wentworth, Muggle Culture and Rebecca Donelly, teaching Muggle Science. Many of you will be happy to hear that History of Magic is no longer taught by Professor Binns but by our new addition to the staff, Professor Frederick Higglerune.'
Minerva tried to talk to Professor Binns about his teaching methods but had gotten nowhere. That's when she had hired Frederick Higglerune to teach History of Magic. She had told Binns that he had been replaced and that his job here was done, he could move on to the next realm now. And yet, Professor Binns remained in the castle. Minerva had found another classroom for Professor Higglerune and would simply not use Prof. Binn's classroom for teaching this year. She wouldn't be surprised if he would still come and drone on and on about goblin wars to empty chairs.
With a well practiced gesture, Minerva silenced the loud cheers that had erupted amongst the older students.
'This is also, why it is not advisable to visit the old History of Magic class room. You will find the new rooms listed on your time schedules tomorrow morning.'
Having worked her way through all the changes in staff she finally announced the last one.
'And last, but certainly not least, I present to you your new potions teacher, Professor Fleur Delacour.'
As all of her colleagues before, Fleur stood up and sat back down again with the suggestion of a bow. There were cheers and some wolf whistles from the crowd and Hermione stared daggers at a fifth year boy sitting at the Slytherin table, whom she had caught in the act. A sharp jab in the ribs by Ginny's elbow brought her back to reality.
'Calm down, woman. She's not gonna run off because someone whistled at her. She's all yours.'
'I know that but that doesn't mean I have to like the way they look at her,' Hermione grumbled and Ginny let it go.
'The final change of staff comes for the first and second years only. They will have a new Transfiguration teacher, since my duties as the head of school don't allow me to teach as much as I'd like. Your new teacher is Headgirl Hermione Granger. Don't let yourself be fooled. At the very moment you enter her classroom she is your Professor and holds full authority over house point deductions, detentions and the like,' McGonagall said and proudly looked at the young witch as she stood up from her seat and nodded benevolently at a random group of first years at the Gryffindor table. As she sat back down, her look fell on Draco again and she caught him just as he hid a smile from her. If she didn't know better, she would be inclined to think that he was happy for her.
A little bit puzzled, she sat back down again.
'Why on earth haven't you told me of this? Congratulations! Headgirl and a job, Not bad, Hermione, not bad at all,' Ginny cheered and hugged Hermione briefly.
'For the same reason that you haven't told me yet that you were made Quidditch captain,' Hermione smiled at her friend with a knowing glint in her eyes.
Ginny deflated a little. She had hoped to surprise Hermione with the good news.
'Aww, don't worry about it. I have another surprise for you later. I'm sure it will make up for the disappointment now,' Hermione promised just before she heard Professor McGonagall wish them all a good start into the new year.
A moment later, the food appeared and everyone tucked in. The conversation was flowing and everyone was excited to be back at school and hopefully have a relatively uneventful year.
Ginny saw Draco asking to be handed something from further up the table. He could only thank his quick reflexes that he wasn't coated in the gravy that came flying at him.
But before she could share her observation with Hermione, she was distracted by Dean Thomas asking her about the Quidditch captain badge that she had pinned on her robes a few minutes earlier. Naturally, Ginny proudly told him of her plans for the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year.
When dinner was over, the prefects led the first years to their quarters. Hermione spread the new password amongst some of the other students and let it snowball from there before walking the familiar way to the common room with Ginny.
When they arrived most students had gone to unpack their things, while some remained to sit by the fireplace and exchange stories of the summer. She could tell though that the mood was a lot more muted than it should be and the faces weren't quite as cheerful as they once had been. She pushed the thought aside and turned to Ginny.
'Want me to show you the surprise I promised?' she asked.
'Do I want to? How long have you known me, Hermione?' Ginny quipped.
'Well, come on then. It's upstairs,' Hermione said, taking Ginny's hand to lead her to what the redhead thought was Hermione's quarters.
'Oh, exciting! I get a surprise and I can check out the Headgirl quarters!'
When they arrived in front of the door, a tiny little painting next to it came to life. It showed a lifelike illustration of one of the birds that originally served as Snitch. It was fluttering around in its frame eagerly.
'Harpies,' Hermione said and Ginny's eyes went wide with surprise.
'Oh my, a Quidditch related password. That is a surprise. At least nobody will be able to guess it correctly.'
'That's not the surprise, you clown. This is,' Hermione said as she opened the door for Ginny.
A little bit confused, she stepped into the room and saw Quidditch posters of members of the Holyhead Harpies plastered all over the walls. Even her bedsheets were spelled to fit the green of the team colours. It felt almost scandalous to find this colour at the very top of scarlet and gold Gryffindor tower.
'What…? What is this, Hermione? Where are all the books and the fresh parchment and the… What's going on?' Ginny stammered as she settled her eyes on Hermione instead of the decorations.
The clever witch, grinned happily. McGonagall's surprise had worked.
'There are no Headgirl quarters at the moment. This room belongs to the Gryffindor Quidditch captain for this year.'
Ginny's eyes went even wider, as she took in the room again. Hers. Her room. Her own bloody room!
'Merlin's pants, this is fantastic! I can't believe McGonagall did this!' Ginny cheered until she suddenly stopped and frowned.
'But where will you… Nah, nevermind. I can guess where you are staying. Just let me know where exactly that is, so I can visit you. And Fleur too, of course.'
Hermione sat down in one of the armchairs by the window and Ginny sat down on the window sill. Hermione described where her new quarters were and Ginny cheekily promised to knock before entering. They shared stories of their summer. In silent agreement, they stuck to the pleasant tales. They didn't have to dwell on the hardships of life on their first night of the new school year. Soon enough they had forgotten about the time and just chatted and laughed like they had done so many times before during summer nights in Ginny's room at the Burrow.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Ginny went to answer it and found Fleur on her doorstep.
'Hello, Professor Delacour. Whatever you have heard, I swear it's not true. It wasn't me. I was with the Headgirl at all times. Please don't give me detention,' she pleaded for show.
'It is not you I'm inclined to give detention, Ginny,' Fleur said as she stepped into the room, 'but rather the 'eadgirl.'
'What? Why? I swear I haven't done anything. I was with the Quidditch captain at a ll times,' Hermione played along with the banter.
'You see, I'm supposed to report students that are out of bed after 'ours and since it's already past curfew, you'll definitely break school rules on your way home,' Fleur smirked. Hermione knew this particular smirk. It usually meant that Fleur was up to something.
'Oh please, I've broken school rules in much more spectacular ways. Being out in the hallways after midnight is rather unimpressive. Don't you think?' Hermione yawned as if bored by the lack of excitement this petty offence held.
'Miss Granger, sleeping with your potions teacher doesn't exempt you from other school rules,' Fleur chided for show.
Ginny gasped, feigning shock before cracking up and making the others break character. Fleur properly greeted Ginny with a hug and congratulated her on her Quidditch-captainship before leading her delinquent girlfriend from the room wishing the redhead a good night.
Morning came sooner than Hermione liked. She had been right in her assumption that Fleur had been up to something. While Fleur had waited for Hermione to return home, she had, very productively, used her time by coming up with ways to punish the young witch in the most delightful ways.
The Headgirl was reminded of it every time she looked at Fleur at the front of the classroom. Monday morning was double potions with the Slytherins.
'Now please pair up and try to brew this yourselves. You'll find further instructions on page 24 in your books,' Fleur instructed but before they could all pair up the way they always had, she stopped them, 'And by pairing up, I mean one Gryffindor and one Slytherin per team.'
There were grunts of discontent for a while but soon enough the students began to mingle.
Hermione caught Draco glancing at her but then he immediately veered off to ask Ginny to work with him and Hermione was asked by Daphne Greengrass if she would want to team up.
After they had worked out how to split up the work, Daphne and Hermione discovered that they actually got along quite well. They were far from sharing private stories and funny anecdotes but it was a pleasurable co-existence. Others didn't seem to be faring so well and Fleur had to deduct quite a few house points within the first few minutes to drive home the point that whinging or fighting wouldn't get them anywhere.
Draco and Ginny had settled on not talking at all, except when it was absolutely necessary.
'I'm probably the only one who is happy about this group work,' Draco tried to start a conversation. Ginny ignored him. She just wanted to get on with the potion, so she could stop working with him. After Ginny's insistence, Hermione had explained in a letter what had happened to her at Malfoy Manor. Ginny had only asked how Fleur and she had met while everyone thought the Trio was on the run but when she had smelt the smoke, she wanted to know where the fire was. It was a shock for the youngest Weasley. It was also the first huge fight she had had with her mother about her banning Fleur, and therefore Hermione, from the Burrow. She wanted them to visit, so she could be there for Hermione.
'Thank you for working with me,' Draco tried again. He was used to having company and even though it was only the first day, he already felt extremely lonely within his own house.
'It's not like I had a choice,' Ginny said, determined to make it clear that she had not forgiven Draco for what he'd done.
'Don't!' exclaimed Draco, when he saw Ginny preparing to pour the Flobberworm mucus into the cauldron. She shot him an angry look but heeded his warning.
'Sorry, I didn't mean to…It's just, Snape told me that if a potion requires Flobberworm mucus and Leech juice, it's better to mix the two before pouring it into the cauldron. It stabilises the potion,' Draco explained himself.
'Why me?' Ginny asked as she followed his advice. She knew he was a talented potioneer, there was no point in arguing.
'Because you're friends with Hermione,' Draco answered.
'So you're working with me to get to her?' Ginny said, narrowing her eyes.
'No, that came out wrong. Let me explain,' Draco said quickly. 'I can tell that she isn't comfortable when I'm around and who can blame her for that. I'm guessing that it reminds her of…well, of...'
'Malfoy, she told me about it. You're not spilling secrets. Get on with it,' Ginny said sharply.
'Yes, well. I don't want to make her uncomfortable. Maybe if I group with you, she feels safer because she trusts you to keep me away from her.'
'Uncomfortable? You've got to be bloody kidding me!' Ginny hissed. She felt like slapping him but that she was quite sure Fleur would deduct house points for that.
'You stand idly by while she's slowly dismantled by your lunatic aunt and now you don't want her to be uncomfortable? Just shut up and help me finish this potion before I hex you,' Ginny threatened the blond man. He did as he was told. Even he knew that Angry Ginny was Dangerous Ginny and not to be trifled with.
When the lesson was over, Draco was quick to tell Ginny not to worry about the clean up, he would do it. She grabbed her bag and made to leave but changed her mind.
'For what it's worth, you might be an opportunistic turncoat, but at least you seem to regret it. And you're good in Potions.'
Draco chanced a timid smile before Ginny went to find Hermione. At least, he had had two hours of relative peace from his housemates.
On their way down to the green houses, Ginny wondered if Draco had just said it or if he really shared her concern for Hermione's sense of security but was distracted by poisonous plants soon after.
After lunch, Hermione had her first lesson as the new Transfiguration teacher. She excused herself a little bit earlier to find her classroom, switch into a neutral black robe instead of her Gryffindor one and prepare for her lesson.
Right on time, the first years filtered in. Ravenclaw and Slytherin.
She could see that they weren't sure what to think of her. Was she a proper teacher or was she more of a tutor? Would she be just as strict as other teachers or would she be friendly to make them like her?
'Good afternoon, my name is Hermione Granger and I will be your Transfiguration teacher this year,' Hermione began.
She gave them a brief idea of what Transfiguration was and what they could hope to achieve with it, if they decided to master it.
'Transfiguration is not just a practical skill for everyday life, when you need a knife but have only spoons. Despite the precision and technique required, it can help you in a lot more situations. It can even be fun.'
She explained to them the theoretical basics before handing out regular muggle light bulbs to her students.
'Who can tell me what this is? And preferably someone who is not muggle born, please?' she asked. 'And don't worry about wrong answers, I want to hear your ideas.'
'It is obviously a muggle vial, duh' a boy in the second row postulated pompously.
'A good guess, but please do raise your hand before speaking, Mr…'
'Wildon-Hennesy, ma'am. Gregory.'
'Mr. Wildon-Hennesy,' Hermione repeated. 'Any other ideas?'
Several hands went into the air and Hermione heard them all out.
'I can tell you all are creative thinkers. I hope you will keep it that way. A vivid imagination can make the difference between a lost or a won duel. You will notice that the most famous duellers have won by using not only classical hexes and jinxes, but by mixing it up with charms and transfigurations spells. Yes, Ms…?'
'Elvira Munn, professor. What is the most difficult transfiguration you have ever done?'
'That is a good question and I'm not sure I have an answer for you. There are several quite advanced transfigurations that I have performed in my life. I've always had trouble with Trans-species transformation, so I would say those were the most difficult. Does that answer your question, Miss Munn?'
The little girl nodded merrily.
'Alright, let's get on with it. Who of the muggle born students wants to explain the item on your tables?'
A weedy little boy in the last row, shyly lifted his hand and was promptly picked by Hermione.
'It's a light bulb. Muggles use it to light their homes, cars, streets, everything that needs light. There are brighter ones and some that give less light. There are different colours, sizes and shapes.'
'How do I switch it on, then?' a rather large boy asked.
Another muggle born witch answered him by roughly explaining electricity. Very soon there was an active discussion about muggle technology and magic.
'Now, let's get some transfiguration started. I want you to try and turn these light bulbs into pears. The shape is already there. That will help you.'
Hermione demonstrated the spell to them and helped them if they had difficulties performing it.
At the end of the lesson she set her very first homework assignment and dismissed the class, thinking that her first lesson had been quiet successful.
One of the students remained behind and when they were alone she cleared her throat to get Hermione's attention. The young professor lifted her look from her bag, saw her student standing in front of the teacher's desk and waited for her to speak.
'Professor Granger, I have already read the part of the textbook you gave us to read until next time,' Elvira said.
'That is very studious of you, Miss Munn. Why don't you look a bit further if you're interested? The next chapter is very compelling too,' Hermione suggested.
'Erm…' the girl hesitated and Hermione smiled at her.
'Let me guess. You have read the whole book?'
Elvira nodded and looked at the ground.
'That is nothing to be ashamed of, Miss Munn. It is very admirable and you shouldn't ever feel bad about wanting to learn,' Hermione said, noticing the Slytherin crest and green tie. Why hadn't the girl been sorted into Ravenclaw?
'How about you go to the library and do further research on the topic? Don't overdo it, though. Education is important and should never be neglected but it is equally important to make friends and have fun. I had to learn that the hard way. It took a whole mountain troll to convince me that knowledge alone wouldn't make me happy.'
The little girl was like a sponge, soaking up every word Hermione spoke.
'Now, run along and enjoy the rest of your day,' Hermione said before watching the girl hurry from the classroom.
On her way back to her quarters Hermione kept wondering how a girl with seemingly no cunning bone in her body had ended up in Slytherin.