When Hermione awoke, it was very early, barely 5:00, and she didn't think any person in their right minds would be up at this time.
Did you just call yourself not in your right mind? Tom asked.
Hermione got out of bed and dressed in her robes. I did, she answered snootily, her nose in the air. Is that a problem?
No, Tom replied, amused. What are your plans for today, and what is your schedule like?
Hermione checked her planner.
7:30—Breakfast
8:15—Charms, Professor Flitwick
9:00—Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall
10:00—Double Potions, rotating Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw
11:15—Lunch
12:15—Herbology, Professor Sprout
13:00—Flying Lessons, Madam Hooch
14:00—Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrel
15:00—History of Magic, Professor Binns (ghost)
16:00—Free Time
18:30—Dinner
19:45—Free Time
21:00—Astronomy, Professor Sinistra
22:30—Curfew, strictly reinforced by patrolling Heads, Prefects, and Professors
23:00—Lights Out
Can you see that? She asked. Tom mentally nodded.
It seems that you are quite busy today, he commented. Make Slytherin and Gryffindor proud.
And what of your pride?
You already have that, my daughter.
Hermione smiled, and tiptoed down the stairs.
The Gryffindor common room was empty, the fire dwindling. Good. No one was awake. She would be able to wander.
You remember the Disillusionment charm we worked on? Tom asked.
Yes, Father, Hermione replied. I can do it so well that not even Dumbledore could see through it.
Good, Tom said approvingly. Go, my daughter. Study, eat, sleep well, and be on your guard. If this works, we may be able to take over sooner than we thought. Remember, do not call Severus by his name, yet.
I will only call him Professor Snape, Hermione stated. I know, Father. Remember, I am young and my memory works better than yours.
She could feel his laughter shaking her mind, and smiled. It felt good to make her father laugh; he did not do it often, but he had done it more since they had connected.
She slipped out the portrait to the Gryffindor common room. The Fat Lady grumbled and shifted in her sleep. Hermione cast disillusioning spell, tapping her head and feeling the cold run down her spine. No matter how often she used the spell, she had never gotten used to the feeling of cold water trickling down her back.
She cast a whispered Muffliato! and headed down the corridor. The morning was going to be used to explore the castle. She had always had a knack for direction, and finding hidden passageways, so as she walked up and down the halls, she spotted several hidden tunnels.
One was behind a statue of a one-eyed witch near the stairs to the DADA classroom, and as Hermione ran her hand over the statue, she could almost hear a boy whisper Dissendium! She tapped her wand on the statue, and said the password. The passage sprung open, and Hermione peered inside. It was an old tunnel, perhaps half a century or more. It was narrow, too narrow for hordes of her father's supporters to storm the castle through, so she tapped it again and it slid closed.
She went back to wandering the halls, and she remembered that the third floor was off limits. She did not dare getting caught there on her first day, so she steered clear of the third floor corridor.
Hermione closed her eyes and listened. She could almost hear the Magic of Hogwarts, humming in the stones of the walls and floor, and smell the scent of centuries of it. She thought for a minute, and took a risk, kneeling and placing her hand on the floor.
She kept her eyes closed and reached out with her Magic, tendrils open in a show of peace. Hogwarts nudged her magic, and she allowed herself to be prodded and poked, before shutting Tom out and speaking with the castle. The ancient building could not talk, but it understood pictures and emotions, so Hermione made a gesture of surrender and spoke.
I come in peace, with Magic in my blood and music in my heart.
The castle hummed, and welcomed her with open...um, Magic tendrils.
This was how Albus Dumbledore found her, kneeling on the floor as if she were praying, with her fingertips stroking the castle walls. Hermione's eyes were closed, but she heard someone quietly approaching, and, without opening her eyes, she said, "Good morning, Headmaster Dumbledore."
Dumbledore was surprised, to say the least, by Hermione's good manners, and how the young girl had known it was him. He voiced this question aloud, and Hermione smiled, opening her eyes.
"I knew it was you from your scent of wood chips and lemon drops, your robes swishing on the floor, and most importantly, your Magic."
Dumbledore was taken aback by this, as he had expected the Muggle-born witch to be sadly out of place in the Wizarding world. Instead, the girl had manners as perfect as a trained-from-birth Pureblood, an excellent sense of magic and how to tell people apart without looking, and a nose made for Potions.
"Excellent deduction, Miss Granger," he complimented. "Five points to Gryffindor."
Hermione beamed, and stood up, her knees slightly sore from kneeling on the hard stone. She was probably the first person to gain points for their house. "I thank you, Headmaster."
Dumbledore smiled proudly. He could tell that Miss Granger was going to fit right in, most likely much to the Purebloods' dismay. They despised being below anyone, especially if the ones better than them were halfbloods or Muggle-born.
"What were you doing kneeling on the floor?" He asked curiously. "I have never...felt anything so powerful. It was amazing. I followed the stream of Magic and found you somehow...communing with the castle itself."
Hermione smiled mysteriously. "I was speaking with the castle, yes, but I was also getting the feel of it's Magic. It has a strong aura of Magic, and anyone who reaches out to it can feel it and commune with it. Would you care to try?"
Dumbledore wondered how this young Muggle-born witch could possibly know that the castle was alive. He had never attempted to speak with it, but he wondered how she had done it. From the extensive research he'd done, he knew that the castle either accepted or rejected one's Magic.
He sank to his knees beside Hermione and place his palm on the floor. He stretched out his Magic, and felt the castle sniff him and welcome him. He could almost hear words in his head, before he realized that it was the voice of Hermione.
The castle approves of your Magic, she whispered in his mind. The castle accepts you as it's Headmaster and Master of the wards.
"How are you doing that?" Dumbledore asked, his voice full of childish wonder.
Hush, Professor. You needn't speak the words aloud. Instead, think them. Think hard, offering the words to my mind. Pretend you can see the words written on a piece of parchment, and you are levitating it to me.
Like this? Dumbledore questioned. Oh! Did you hear that?
I did, Headmaster. Congratulations on your achievement. It often takes several minutes for some to learn, as I have read.
What book did you learn how to do this from? Dumbledore was amazed, as he had only discovered the talent in a book from several decades ago, over half a century.
I learned it from The Extended Versione of the Historie of Hogwarts.
Where did you find that? It was the same book that he had read.
At my local library. Hermione's voice was puzzled. Why?
A Muggle library?
Yes. What of it?
No reason.
Their mental conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Professors McGonagall and Snape.
"And what, pray tell, are you doing, Miss Granger, Headmaster?" Snape drawled, arching an eyebrow. "Miss Granger, should you not be in bed still? Or is bed too good for you?"
McGonagall swatted him on the arm. "Be nice, Severus! She's with the Headmaster, doing...well, whatever it is they're doing."
Dumbledore attempted to rise, but his knees had locked into place. Hermione stood swiftly and lent the old wizard an arm, but to no avail. He was, literally, stuck fast.
"Shall I get Madam Pomfrey?" McGonagall asked worriedly.
"That is not necessary, Professor," Hermione said. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Dumbledore's knees. "Tensio release!" (A/N: I apologize for my butchered Latin. This means 'release tension.'")
Dumbledore rose, expecting his old joints and aching bones to protest, but, to his surprise, they did not. He lifted his knees as high as they would go: nearly level with his hips. "My most sincere thanks, Miss Granger," he said with a polite incline of his head.
"Where did you learn that spell?" Snape inquired suspiciously.
Hermione smiled. "A book," she replied smoothly.
"Which book? A first-year such as yourself should not even know that spell. Merlin, fourth-years should not know that spell!"
"It is fine, Severus," Dumbledore interrupted. Snape turned his glare to the Headmaster, but Dumbledore ignored it. "Miss Granger has cured me of my aching joints, and I shall not having you pestering her."
Snape watched the young bushy-haired girl curiously. He didn't understand how a Muggle-born first-year could know a spell that was difficult for even Dumbledore, and could perform it correctly, to add insult to injury.
There was just something about her. Something that made her seem different from everyone else...
Why did she seem so familiar?
He would have to tell the Dark Lord.
A/N: Oh, Merlin, this took me so long! What was it, nearly a month? Christ, I'm so so so sorry!
Thank you for sticking with this story, even though I've neglected it for so long.
If you're fond of time travel fics, check out my story The Phoenix or the Flame. It's fairly good, if I do say so myself, and if my amount of followers has anything to say about it. Seriously, I have over 70!
Again, thank you so much for staying with me.
PLEASE REVIEW! ;)