Kolybel'naya
Chapter 06: Teach us something, please
Her first class was Potions, a double period shared with Slytherin. Hermione always wondered why the teachers – or whoever organized the schedules of their classes – always ended up putting Gryffindor and Slytherin. Ever since she first had stepped into Hogwarts, the two houses lived in a constant battle against each other.
"Double Potions with Slytherin," she sighed as she walked down to the dungeons, alongside Minerva and Charlus.
"Don't worry, Potions classes are alright, you won't even notice it's a double." McGonagall smiled at her and pointed at a wooden door at the end of the corridor. "That's our class. Don't forget the way down there, because the only ones who can help you if you get lost in the dungeons are the Slytherins, Peeves, and the Bloody Baron."
"Peeves is our poltergeist," explained Charlus, laughing quietly. "He likes to send people on the wrong path. When I was a first year, I got lost trying to go to Astronomy, and was stupid enough to ask for his help."
"He ended up here in the dungeons." Minerva laughed, shaking her head. "I guess this is your first lesson here at Hogwarts: do not trust Peeves, he can fool everyone."
"And the Bloody Baron?" asked Hermione as she saw a group of Slytherin girls walk past them. One of them, a short girl with curled, messy dark hair, whose glasses were almost falling from the tip of her nose, stopped in her tracks just to look back and give a quick wave of her hand in their direction.
"The Baron is the ghost of Slytherin house," said the other Gryffindor girl, her voice sounding quite distant as she furrowed her brows, watching the Slytherin witch giggle and run back to her friends. "He's a bit of a loner, I guess. Doesn't talk much with the students or the teachers... And Nick says he's really quiet when it comes to talking with the other ghosts too."
"I wonder how he died," said Potter, and just now Hermione noticed that his face had a slight blush. "I mean... He's covered in blood, Hermione, you need to see him! From head to toe in silver blood."
"Yes, because that's really exciting, Charlus." McGonagall grimaced and shook her head. "By the way, pay attention to your face. Your crush is showing."
"It's exciting, Minnie... Wait, what? It's not!" the boy said indignantly, losing the playful smile on his face.
"Well, don't worry, hers is showing too." Minerva turned to Hermione and winked. "That Slytherin was Dorea Black. Charlus has been in love with her since... Since when?"
If that girl was the witch whom Charlus Potter was infatuated too... Then the chances of her being Harry Potter's grandmother were great. Alright, both Charlus and the Slytherin girl were still teenagers, but Hermione knew how common it was for young people to marry back in that time. Not to mention that, now that she stopped to think about it, the girl actually reminded her of Harry in a few ways. She was of medium height, like her friend, and seemed to be shy, just like Harry was. Not to mention the dark, messy hair, was very different from Potter's well combed and light brown hair. Although Charlus resembled her friend in a few ways, he was way more talkative and outgoing, from what she managed to see since she met him; different from the other Potter who was, at the very least, a little bit awkward, depending on the situation.
"Minerva..."
"What? Hermione is our friend and friends should know everything about each other." The girl laughed.
"I'm going to get our seats, Minnie, see you there." The wizard tried to look serious, but soon let a quiet chuckle escape from his lips as he turned around and walked towards their classroom.
"She's a nice girl, Dorea. From a good family, too... Although the Potters don't pay too much attention to pure-bloodness," explained McGonagall as she started walking again. "And nowadays, Merlin knows how hard it is to find a pure-blood family that doesn't believe that purist stupidity."
"Yes," whispered Hermione, her right hand going to her left forearm almost unconsciously.
"You told us in the train that you're a Muggleborn." Minerva's tone of voice suddenly dropped. "I just want you to know that... Although Hogwarts has some idiots who believe in that theory of wizarding supremacy, most of us are not like that. So, if anyone gets to you with that silliness, don't hesitate to call me or Charlus or anyone else from Gryffindor, because we won't hesitate to show them how Muggle blood can be pretty strong when working against purists."
"Don't worry," the girl chuckled, picturing the entirety of Gryffindor house surrounding a faceless Slytherin – that, quickly, became not-so-faceless but a copy of Tom Riddle – who dared to mess with a Muggleborn. Even Harry and Ron, though not from the current time, were there. "I'll make sure to remember that."
"Good. Now, let's go, otherwise Slughorn will arrive before us!"
Hermione nodded and followed the Gryffindor prefect to the classroom. The Potions classroom was still the same dust-filled place with shelves and more shelves full of bottles, vials, boxes of ingredients, and already prepared potions from her time. Minerva led her to a table where Charlus and Septimus Weasley were already talking with each other. The girl sat down next to the redhead, and looked around. She recognized most of the students from Gryffindor, but noticed the absence of three kids from her house - Selina Merrick, Cecilia Wyght and Hector Spinnet – but didn't pay much attention to that. She knew very few students actually took all of the classes during their last year at Hogwarts, focusing on the ones they thought that would be more useful for their lives after they left school... The girl remembered very well how Harry and Ron almost stopped taking Potions classes during their sixth year due to the fact they hadn't achieved an Outstanding in their OWLs.
Aside from the Gryffindors, Hermione knew no one else. On the table next to theirs sat a group of boys, all of them wearing Slytherin robes. One of them had pale-blonde hair, blue eyes and a face that seemed somewhat familiar to her. The boy next to the blond was tall, with dark, curled hair and dark eyes. The last wizard also had dark hair neatly combed back, and brown eyes that seemed to glimmer with malice as he looked around the room and whispered to his housemates.
"Who are they?" Hermione asked in a low tone. Septimus Weasley turned his head to look at the Slytherins before turning back to her.
"They're not really worth knowing, Hermione," said the redhead, shrugging. "But just so you won't know their names when something happens... The blonde is Abraxas Malfoy." Malfoy! So that was why he looked so familiar... She would recognize a Malfoy's face anywhere in time. "The curly haired one is Lestrange, Canopus Lestrange... And the last kid is Atlas Avery."
Malfoy, Lestrange and Avery. What a great group of friends. The Gryffindor kept herself from laughing, but she noticed that there was still an empty spot on their table and wondered who it belonged to... Their master was the most obvious answer that came to her mind and, a few minutes later, it was proven to be the correct one when she saw Tom Riddle walk into the classroom and sit down next to Avery. Riddle was the smallest of the boys and looked the youngest as well, but, at the same time, the witch could see how he inspired a great deal of respect – or was it fear? – in them.
"And that's Tom Riddle," explained Septimus. "Out of those four, he's the best. I mean... He's Head Boy and has good grades and is not the kind of person who'll call you names because of your heritage or anything like that."
"He's a git," said Charlus. "I bet that politeness of his is only a façade."
"Charlus doesn't like him because he thinks Ms. Black enjoys Mr. Riddle's company," joked Minerva, laughing as her friend gave her a cold look.
"And Minerva doesn't like him because he gets higher grades than her in every damn class." Potter puffed his chest and raised his head, giving the girl a triumphant look.
"Not all of the classes. Not in Transfiguration."
"Minnie is a genius in Transfiguration." Weasley smiled, pointing at the prefect. "She's... Oh, well, Slughorn's here."
The witch stretched her neck in order to see the teacher. This Horace Slughorn still had a good amount of dirt-blonde hair on the top of his head and his moustache hadn't gone white yet. He also looked thinner, but that didn't made him look less Slughorn-ish as he walked along the tables with his long, brown tweed cloak dragging across the dusty floor, greeting his students.
"Well, well, well," the teacher said after reaching his desk and putting down the books and scrolls he was carrying. "Look at all of you." The man was quiet as he let his eyes travel across the room. "I remember the day all of you walked into this class for the first time thinking we would brew potions that would turn people into frogs!" The class laughed, especially Septimus. "Yes, that's for you, Mr. Weasley, I still remember that... I also remember how some of you managed to explode a few cauldrons during the previous six years." Slughorn eyes Malfoy, who shrugged. "But I also remember how most of you have grown since you walked in here for the first time, how you turned from a clueless – or maybe not so clueless – first years into skilled wizards and witches." Hermione couldn't help but notice that the professor's eyes quickly found Riddle in the middle of the class. "And now you're here, in your last year... And this old fool that has been teaching you couldn't help but make this little speech before he actually began his class.
"As I was saying: you have all grown a lot since you first stepped into this class and this is your last year, so... Give it worth. Work hard and enjoy every bit of information you can get from us teachers, because once you leave Hogwarts, it'll become very difficult for you to find someone willing to teach you like we do in here. Life outside the castle is not wonderful but full of competition and you'll need to work hard to make it through the great amount of wizards and witches that now crowd the wizarding world... And I know that you all have the potential to be the ones that'll reach the top." Slughorn cleared his throat and looked around. "Now, after this... Oh! Oh... Is that a new face that I see?"
Hermione felt her face burn as she noticed the teacher was talking about her. Slughorn raised his arm and motioned for her to stand up. She did as he asked and looked around to see that all the heads inside the classroom were turned to her.
"You must be the young lady who entered the school this year," he said, smiling. "What's your name?"
"Hermione, sir, Hermione Elston."
"Well, Ms. Elston, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Professor Horace Slughorn, Hogwarts' Potion Master," the wizard explained. "I hope you'll enjoy the class and, if you need anything, don't be shy and ask right away."
"Yes, sir." She nodded and smiled to the teacher before sitting down once again.
"Getting back to the subject... Before we start the class, I prepared a little thing for all of you." The wizard turned around and, once he faced the class again, held up a handful of parchment scrolls. The students made a loud noise of disagreement as the teacher simply laughed. A small smile appeared on Hermione's face as she saw it a chance to show Slughorn the good student she could be. Aside from her, the only other student that didn't seem to be annoyed by the surprise was Riddle, who took a deep breath, adjusting himself on the stool in which he was sitting and puffing his chest." Don't worry, it's not a real test, it'll simply be used to see how much you remember about Potions after summer break."
The older wizard started to distribute the scrolls to his pupils. Hermione quickly searched for her quill and inkbottle inside her bag, finding it just in time for Slughorn to arrive at their table.
"It's not a real test, as I said," he explained, handing a scroll to each of them. "So there's no need to try cheating on it."
Hermione quickly unfolded her scroll and read over the questions, ignoring the small chat Minerva started to have with the wizard. The girl gave a muffled laugh as she read the first questions... They were really simple things that even a first year would be able to answer without doing much thinking.
Define the following terms: brew, concoction, draught, elixir, philtre, poison and tincture.
Now, that was an extremely silly question. A seventh year that didn't know how to define those terms had to be thrown back into a class filled with first years!
Describe Golpalott's Third Law.
Oh, so easy! She herself had defined that to Slughorn in their class back in her own time.
Write down three potions that may be of extreme importance for a wizard or witch working into the healing field.
Wound-cleaning potion, the Concrescentia potion and the Ponos potion.
Grunhilda of Gorsemoor is well known for the potion she managed to create during her life as a healer. Write down the name of the said potion and the reason it's, nowadays, considered to be one of the most important potions of the wizarding world.
Alright, that was more of History of Magic than Potions, but still...
Hermione grinned as she wrote down the answer to the first question, letting her grin grow even wider as she finished another one. The Gryffindor looked up to see Minerva looking down at her parchment with her brows furrowed and a worried expression on her face. Septimus was tapping his fingers on his chin, slowly writing his answers down, while Charlus chewed on his bottom lip and tapped the tip of his quill on the wooden table. Looking around, Hermione saw that most of the other students seemed to be stuck with their answers, just like her housemates. Avery, on the table next to them, cursed softly as he looked down at his parchment; Lestrange pulled a face as he wrote, as if he didn't like his own answer; Malfoy pursed his lips and stared at the test for a long time and, last but not least, Riddle... Tom, to her surprise, also seemed to find the test difficult. The boy had his head bent down, his hand resting on his forehead, while his eyes were closed, and he seemed to be muttering something to himself. The witch's smile grew even bigger when she saw the Slytherin looking so troubled.
Explain the mechanisms of the Amortentia potion.
Another easy one. She still remembered the day Slughorn showed the class a cauldron filled with Amortentia. The witch tried to ignore the slight clench in her chest as she remembered what that potion smelled like to her.
Write down at least 5 side effects that can appear in a witch or wizard treated with a Mandrake Draught.
She didn't really remember any side effects of the said draught. Looking back at the day she woke up from her petrified state in her second year, Hermione couldn't remember having any side effects... Or at least she didn't pay attention to them, as she was too occupied with being happy about the fact that she was alive. The witch furrowed her brows. Side effects of Mandrake Draught? She really had never seen them written down in any book or talked about by any teacher, so how was it in the test?
Explain the mechanisms of action in the Dreamless Sleep Potion.
Explain the mechanisms of action in the Draught of the Living Death.
Explain the mechanisms of action in the Euphoria Elixir.
Hermione bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath. What were those mechanisms of action Slughorn wanted her to write about? She knew the effects of each potion, but wasn't sure if it that was what the teacher wanted to see as an answer. Sighing, the girl wrote down what she knew, hoping that the older wizard would consider them good answers, and told herself she would go back to those questions as soon as she finished the rest of the test.
Write down the situations in which the Felix Felicis potion is considered a banned substance.
Write down one situation in which the Polyjuice Potion can go awry.
Write down a situation in which the Polyjuice Potion cannot be used.
How can the Truth Serum be countered?
Now, the answers to these questions were clear in her head. Slughorn had given them quite a class about the Felix Felicis and she had read a lot more about the potion after Harry received a vial of it. The Polyjuice Potion... Well, if she didn't know how to answer questions about his one, she should consider jumping off the Astronomy Tower. As for the Veritaserum, Hermione had always been fascinated by it, so it was no surprise she had good knowledge of it.
'Now, back to those questions,' she thought, looking back to the three questions she had only partially answered. But as soon as she reached them, Slughorn's voice echoed inside the classroom and the noises of moans and sighs from the students filled the room.
"Roll up your scrolls... Mr. Malfoy, stop writing right now and give me that scroll! Good." The Gryffindor grimaced as she rolled her parchment and handed it to the teacher. "Mr. Potter, the same thing I said to Mr. Malfoy applies to you: stop writing..."
Charlus huffed and handed the parchment to the teacher.
"I hate it when he does that," Minerva said, shaking her head. "I mean... The last time he did a surprise test was on our third year! We thought he had quit doing those."
"Teachers, Minnie, you'll never know what goes inside their heads," whispered Potter. "Those mechanisms of action, ugh!" The boy trembled as if a shiver had run through his whole body. "I hate those... Could he even ask that to everyone? I mean, what about the students who don't take those extra classes?"
"Maybe he's just trying to scare everyone? You know, trying to show his subject is a serious one..." Septimus shrugged.
"We don't need to be reminded of that! We know Potions is difficult."
"At least it's not, as he said, a real test, Charlus," said Minerva, looking back to the teacher, who was now standing in front of the class, leaving all the parchment scrolls on his desk.
"Alright, everyone, I'll correct those and bring the results next week." The wizard gave a quick look at the pile of scrolls, as if thinking about the hard work he would have in order correct all of those tests. "Now, let me ask you, did you find it difficult?" The classroom was filled with murmurs and whispers. "Okay, let me guess... You got stuck on the questions about the Mandrake Draught, the Amortentia, the Truth Serum, the Polyjuice Potion and the Felix Felicis, am I right?" Slughorn laughed and shook his head as he saw most of the students nod. "It was on purpose. You haven't studied any of these potions yet and, as you may notice now, they'll be greatly studied during your seventh year." The man turned around and walked up to the black board, waving his wand, and making the names of the potions appear on it. "This year we won't have as many projects as we did on our previous years, but a major project that'll take most of your time. I'll sort you into groups of three, and give each group a potion that they'll work with... By the end of the school year, you'll have brewed the said potion, learned about its uses, and will be the ones who'll explain it all to your colleagues. Don't worry, we'll still have our regular classes, as we still have much more to learn, but expect a lot of work in this project... But, believe me, it'll be fun." The man winked at them. "Oh, yes, Tom?"
Hermione turned her head to look at Tom Riddle, who had his arm high up in the air.
"Professor, some of these potions are restricted by the Ministry..."
"Oh, yes, well spotted, Tom! Can anyone tell me which of these potions must have the Ministry approval in order to be used?" The Gryffindor raised her arm, hearing a quiet laugh coming from Charlus, who motioned for her to look at the table next to their. Riddle's arm was also raised and the boy was now looking at her with a confused look on his face, as if not believing she was trying to answer the question. "Let's give Ms. Elston a chance, Tom."
"The Veritaserum, the Polyjuice Potion and the Felix Felicis on certain occasions, such as competitions," she said, grinning, proud of herself.
"Good, you've just earned yourself five points for your house, Ms. Elston." Slughorn smiled before looking back to his class. "There's quite a bit of discussion about the usage of Amortentia, but I won't talk about it in order to give the group who gets this potion in our project the chance to learn about it themselves." The wizard dug his hand into his vest's pocket, taking out a golden pocket-watch and opening its lid. "Well, our first period ended almost fifteen minutes ago, so I think we can move on to our actual class... It'll be an introductory thing, very quick; do you think you need a break before it? No? Good, and I swear it'll be quick."
The rest of the class was given instructions about their classes that year. The professor talked about the kinds of potions they would study, how they would study them, and how he would prepare them for their NEWTs. The man also talked about something called "extra classes" that Hermione didn't completely get, but understood that they took place after their regular classes and lasted for at least one hour. Not everyone needed to turn up at those classes, only those interested, and the subjects given to them there wouldn't be in any of their tests.
"So, what did you think of it? The class, I mean, and old Slug," asked Septimus as he got up. The class had ended, and students were walking out of the room.
"It's... Nice." Hermione gave him a forced smile; trying to not let it show that she wasn't really amused by Potions due to the fact that she already knew how Slughorn's classes worked. "And Professor Slughorn seems to be a good teacher."
"Yeah, he is..."
"The only thing is that he does favouritism," said Charlus, catching up with them, followed by Minerva. "He's Head of Slytherin, so..."
"Yes, but he doesn't prefer Slytherins that much." This time it was McGonagall who spoke. "He likes to pick his 'favorites', Hermione. He chooses them by their families and achievements in school."
"I see..."
"Those boys who sat next to us? They're his favourite group," the other witch explained. "Malfoy and Lestrange, because of their families; Avery, because his uncle worked with Slughorn on some old research; and Riddle, because of his performance here in Hogwarts."
"He created this little club of his, the Slug Club." Potter laughed. "They meet once in a while to have a tea party or something like that... Minnie here was invited, but turned down the offer."
"Why?" asked Hermione, looking at the other girl, who simply shrugged.
"As much as I love tea, I'm not really fond of the company I would keep if I joined the Slug Club." She sighed. "I mean... Most of the boys in there come from purist families and, well, I'm a half-blood. It wouldn't work."
"Hey... Running away from the current subject, could any of you explain what are those extra classes Slughorn talked about?" the witch asked as they finally reached the stairs that would lead them outside the dungeons.
"Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you about those," whispered Minerva. "You see, here at Hogwarts we have our usual classes, like the one we just had, and the extra classes. What we learn in those are like... Extensions of the usual subjects, things we won't really use at our level of education, but may be useful in the future."
"They're post-Hogwarts level studies," explained Weasley. "We don't have the obligation to learn it here because we'll end up learning it all in our post-Hogwarts work. Potions classes, for example: in those extras, we learn about how the potions work inside a witch or wizard's body, the so-called 'mechanisms of action'."
"There's a lot of Muggle knowledge in those classes as well, and that's why there aren't that many people who take them," said McGonagall. "But, as Septimus said, in Potions' extra classes, we learn about how potions work in our bodies, for example, but we don't need to know it at this level of education, I mean, we won't be questioned about this on the NEWTs or anything like that and, for example, if a student decides to become a healer, he will be taught all these things again in his post-Hogwarts work."
"Of course," the Gryffindor whispered to herself. "1945's Decree of Educational Safety..."
Hermione raised her brows as she finally understood what they were talking about. Of course she wouldn't remember those classes from her time: they didn't exist anymore The witch now remembered having read about how, right after the fall of Grindelwald, the British, French, Eastern European, American and Brazilian Ministries of Magic agreed to sign a bill that would cut out of wizarding schools the teaching of intricate magical theory. The schools – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academy, Durmstrang Institute, Salem Witches' Institute, and the Ondine School of Magical Arts – would be allowed to teach their students Magical Theory as a basic subject, something they would have in their first years in order to understand how magic worked, but that each discipline wouldn't go too deep into their own theories. In Hermione's opinion, it was one of the stupidest laws the wizarding world could ever come up with, but the higher members of the Ministries believed it was a good way to prevent their young witches and wizards from getting too deep into the Dark Arts... Hermione, and a great part of the magical world, knew they were only doing that because they had noticed how, during the war against Grindelwald, the most powerful dark wizards – Grindelwald included – were the ones who actually had the greatest knowledge about magical theory of different fields, and most of the time this was applied to the field of the Dark Arts. Preventing the younger ones from learning those theories would prevent them of getting great in certain kinds of magic, and it would create a weaker youth that would only come in touch with that powerful information once they started another level of their teaching and it would be a much more centred thing, not like before where a student could have great knowledge of magical theory about Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Dark Arts all at the same time. The only thing they didn't expect was that their next great enemy would be a kid who was part of one of the last generations that enjoyed the old teaching system and, therefore, knew everything about magical theory.
"What?"
"That's really interesting," said Hermione, smiling at Minerva and trying to avoid her question. "I mean... I bet you guys must learn a hell of a lot of interesting things in those classes."
"We're lucky they don't end up in our tests, because sometimes you end up thinking about quitting the magical world when you notice how freaking difficult magic actually is." Charlus sighed and then smiled to her. "But then you remember you don't really need to understand all those things..."
"Yet," said Minerva.
"Okay, yet."
After lunch, Hermione hurried to Transfiguration class. It was in the same classroom that she had the subject in the future. The only difference was that, in the 1940s, the girl could see that it wasn't Professor McGonagall teaching there simply by looking around the place. At the front of the long room, behind the teacher's desk, there was a huge cupboard that occupied the whole wall and that was filled with books, photo frames and a great variety of unknown and weird- looking objects. The blackboard was on the right of Dumbledore's desk, while, on its left, there was what seemed to be a golden metal stand where, on the top of it, perched a beautiful, red bird. It looked like a smaller and red version of a peacock and, as soon as Hermione stepped into the room, its dark eyes locked onto her.
"You already exist." The girl whispered, smiling. Even though she was the only one in the place at the moment, she didn't want to risk getting caught talking like that. "I've only had the chance to look at you once, and it wasn't in the best of light..." She approached the bird, her smile now turning into something sad. "But I must say I found your song beautiful."
"Do you always talk to yourself?"
The witch spun around, her widened eyes finding a familiar face staring back at her. Abraxas Malfoy stood by the door, holding a few books in his arms with a dark, leather bag hanging off his shoulder. He had a playful smile on his thin lips, and let a chuckle escape from his mouth. He walked up to a desk, putting his books on top of it and sitting down.
"That's none of your business," said Hermione, crossing her arms in front of her chest while the other simply opened one of his books.
The Slytherin simply raised an eyebrow at her before looking back down at his book. The witch took a deep breath, sitting down on a table a few metres in front of Malfoy. Taking her Transfiguration and Potions book out of her bag, the girl opened the latter and started reading its introduction. As Slughorn didn't give them any real information during the whole morning, there wasn't much she could study based on the class, so she simply kept reading the book in order to be busy enough to ignore the other occupant of the room. Hermione's attention was only taken from her reading when the sound of footsteps echoed around the classroom once again, vanishing as the person who walked in sat a few tables behind her. She heard the noise of the newcomer taking their stuff out from their bag and, soon after that, there were more footsteps, followed by loud male voices. The girl didn't recognize the voices and decided not to pay attention to their conversation.
"You're hasty, aren't you?" It was only when the classroom was starting to get crowded, that Gryffindor finally looked up upon hearing the familiar voice. "May I sit here?"
"Of course," the girl smiled up at Minerva McGonagall, who sat down next to her. "I guess this is your class, right? I mean, Septimus said you're a genius when it comes to Transfiguration."
"I simply like the subject." She shrugged. "It's interesting and we're lucky to have a good teacher responsible for it..."
"It's Dumbledore, right?"
"Yes. He's a powerful wizard and can teach very well, so... Good class!" Minerva grinned widely. "Amazing class."
"Alright, Ms. Marwick, Ms. Akins, I'm sure the subject of your conversation is incredibly interesting – I mean, when isn't the good looks of a certain Quidditch player not interesting, hm? – but I must ask you two to sit down now so we can start our class." Hermione turned around and a smile spread across her face as she saw Dumbledore, wearing a long, purple robe and a pointed hat of the same colour, walking into the class, smiling down at a couple of Slytherin girls who giggled at his request and went to sit at the nearest empty table.
"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen," the teacher said as he finally reached his desk. Albus took off his hat and put it down on his table before approaching his phoenix and stroking its head. "I hope all of you had a good summer break." The man smiled. "I believe Professor Slughorn already made quite the speech about how fast all of you grew and how proud he's of your achievements through the years, and that's why I'm not going into that subject... That, however, doesn't mean I don't share Horace's point of view about your last year here at Hogwarts, I simply don't want to bother you."
Dumbledore took his wand out of his pocket and waved it at the blackboard. A piece of chalk floated in the air and started to write on it.
"Now, as everyone knows, the field of Transfiguration is composed of four branches: Transformation, Vanishment, Conjuration and Untransfiguration," the wizard explained. As he spoke, the names of the branches appeared on the black board. "Since your first year, you've learned a lot about Transformation and Vanishment, subjects that were tested on your OWLs. Last year you had more of these two branches and started working on Conjuration. This year you'll improve your Conjuration skills and learn about Untransfiguration. As we will start with the former, can someone give me an example of Conjuration? Ms McGonagall?"
"Incarcerous?"
"Exactly. Anyone else? Oh, yes, Mr Riddle?"
"Serpensortia." Hermione couldn't help but roll her eyes as she heard the Slytherin's voice. Of course Riddle would mention the Serpensortia spell.
"Good. A tricky one, Serpensortia, for you'll be conjuring a living thing, but still, right... Anyone else?" Granger didn't have time to register her hand shooting up in the air, she only knew that she knew several conjuration spells and that she wouldn't stay behind Tom for too long. "Ms. Elston?"
"Avis, Incendio and Orchideous?"
"Very good." The girl restrained herself from turning her head to look at the Slytherin wizard. It was a silly thing, she knew, to compete in class like that, but what could she do? It was an automatic thing. Also, the fact Riddle looked so annoyed and confused earlier in Potions, when she answered Slughorn's question, only made it more amazing to her. "Now, all those incantations create things 'out of thin air', in layman's terms. Incarcerous can be used to create ropes to tie something or someone; Serpensortia conjures a snake..."
"How very Slytherin." Hermione heard Minerva whisper and chuckle.
"While Avis conjures birds; Incendio creates fire and Orchideous conjures flowers."
As it was their first class of the school year, Dumbledore spent the whole time he had with them explaining the subject's theory, which could have been quite exhaustive if it wasn't for the teacher's good mood and the fact he, from time to time, stopped talking about his subject to make a silly joke or tell a story of his in order to relax the students a bit. Like she expected – for it to be their first class and only have theory – Transfiguration class ended earlier that day, with Professor Dumbledore releasing them almost one hour before the established time for their class to really end.
"Just don't let Professor Dippet know I'm letting you go early," the teacher said, going back to his phoenix and raising his hand so the bird could nibble on his fingers. "He doesn't like it when we finish our classes early, but I won't keep you kids here if I have nothing interesting to talk about... Unless you want to hear a joke about a Leprechaun and a Werewolf who met during Halloween."
"So, how was it?"
"Hm?" Hermione tore her eyes away from the view of the Hogwarts grounds she had from the window which she was sitting by in Gryffindor tower. Charlus Potter was standing in front of her, leaning against the wall.
"Your first day here at Hogwarts, how was it?" the boy asked, smiling.
That was a good question. How was her first day at Hogwarts during the 1940s? It was, at the very least, weird. During the lessons, the witch felt as if she wasn't in a different time, in truth; it was all the same: listening to the teacher, taking notes, understanding the subject and answering questions. It was as if she went into autopilot mode while she was into a classroom with a subject being thrown at her, but, as soon as the class ended and the influx of information stopped, the girl was hit by the cruel reality: she was stuck into the past, almost three decades before she was even born, without her parents and friends, alone. And, to make everything worse, Hermione knew very well those she loved were in danger. The girl knew Harry and Ron were out there, in the future, running after Horcruxes and being chased by Death Eaters; that her parents were hiding in Australia with their memories modified so they wouldn't even remember she existed... And where was she? In 1944, having Potions and Transfiguration classes with the grandparents of her classmates, not to mention Voldemort himself. If the thought of being away from everyone she loved while they were fighting in a war already made a bad feeling appear in her stomach, thinking that she was now sleeping under the same roof and eating the same food as the man who was the reason everyone was endangered made her feel everything in her belly twist.
"Hermione?"
"It was good," she answered him, smiling, but not able to hide the sadness.
"Are you alright? You look... Disturbed." Charlus slightly inclined his head. The girl simply laughed quietly as she stood up and shook her head.
"Yes, I am," she reassured him but noticed Potter didn't seem too convinced by her answer. "I'm just tired."
"Are you homesick?" he asked. "Because there's no need to be ashamed of that... Everyone gets a bit homesick once they come here."
"Hm, I guess you can call it homesickness, yes." Hermione shrugged.
"Maybe you should write to your parents, it helps, you know? At least it helped me when I was a first year." The boy laughed. "I was really excited when I came to Hogwarts, but after the first week I realized that I was away from my parents and became a little sad. I missed everything from home... My bed, my pillow, my father's owl tapping on the window, our cat jumping onto my face when I was asleep, my mum's voice as she sang while cooking, my dad's jokes, the smell of my mum's biscuits, the view outside my window... I even missed the graveyard that I always walked by before. I wrote my mother, telling her I wanted to go back home, and that I wanted to be homeschooled like my cousin Benjamin..."
"And how did it go away? The sadness."
"I started to write to my parents almost every day, and they would tell me how things were back home. I felt as if I was there, you know? Knowing what was going on at Godric's Hollow made me think I was there with them," the boy explained. "I also stopped sulking in the corners and started to talk more with everyone from Gryffindor."
"I'm not sulking in a corner!" Hermione laughed.
"What? Oh, no! I didn't mean it that way, Hermione!"
"It's alright, don't worry." The witch took a deep breath and smiled at her housemate. "You know, I think you're right: I should write to them... I think I'll do it right now, and then, I'll be off to bed because I'm almost falling asleep here."
"Alright then, my dear. If we don't see each other until tomorrow morning: good night."
"Thank you, Charlus." 'I'll surely need it.'
A/N: thank you everyone who reviewed on last chapter and for those who added the story to their favourite or alert :) I'm not being able to write too much here on the computer thanks to the intravenous access I have on my hand right now {maybe I'll answer the reviews tomorrow, all right? Once I get this acess out of my arm}. Some not-so-nice stuff happened to me this week and now I'm getting to know the hospital as a patient {I broke my jaw. Yey. Had a surgery to correct it today.} Anyway:
1- "1945's Decree of Educational Safety: rather inspired by stuff I learnt about the Dictature on Brazil, when they had the censorship controlling all the information on the country.
2- The Ondine School of Magical Arts: one of the schools of magic that joined the 45's Decree is the brazilian school of magic that Bill Weasley talked about on GoF. In portuguese it would be something along the lines of "Escola de Artes Mágicas de Ondina" and, in my head, it is placed in an island near Florianópolis (which is placed on the island of Santa Catarina). Why this place? Florianópolis is full of folk tales about witches, magic and magical creatures. So, yeah, I imagine the school in an island near Floripa. And the name, Ondine/Ondina is the name of a water nymph/protector of the waters... I thought it would be a good name for a school of magic placed in an island. Also, there is a neighborhood in a city here in Brazil called Ondina, the city is Salvador.
I guess that's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter :D
Ari.