Chapter 1
Hermione grew up very close to her mother and grandfather. She had her mother's eyes but her father's black hair. She would not have been called a conventional beauty as a child but was cute. She was aware of her status as a witch from a very young age and took to learning and reading everything she could with the ambitious drive she became known for during her years at Hogwarts. Her mother along with several tutors taught her and she loved all of it. That of course didn't stop her from attending a normal muggle school and excelling there. Helen did try to teach her daughter about the light and dark as objectively as she could as she thought it prudent for her daughter to be able to make up her own mind at Hogwarts especially as she would be attending as a muggleborn. She also tried to explain why wizards and witches fought so passionately on either side. But Hermione was of course just a child so at least until the letter would arrive Helen tried to let Hermione have as a normal live as possible, which wasn't very easy considering that she had to hide the fact that she was a witch and because she was Rothfurt and therefore had a lot going for her.
She also told Hermione of or father, about him being in Azkaban, and about his family and then his Gryffindor friends.
Well then Hermione goes to Diagon Alley few days before September first to buy her school supplies, she had of course been there before but now her and her mother were going as Mrs Granger and her Muggleborn witch daughter under glamour. Hermione's eyes stayed the same but they changed her hair from straight and coal black to brown, curly and frizzy. Nothing specific happened they only wanted to establish the ruse of the Grangers on case anybody ever wondered.
On September first she boarded the train and almost immediately met Neville Longbottom who had lost his toad. She knew she could just summon it or do a point me charm but alas she wasn't suppose to know any magic. She and her mother had decided that she would portray this over enthusiastic student so no one would suspect any prior training. Hermione went all over the train with Neville to search for the toad and in one cabin she met Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. She didn't really like Ron but Harry seemed nice enough, a bit shy and very small but nice.
Now we all know what happens during the two first years of Hermione's education. She wasn't really faking her obsessive study habits or her bossiness those characteristics came naturally to her. But she wasn't as uptight as she did seem nor did she object so harshly to rule breaking, those were more exaggerations that she and her mother had wanted her to portray along with her Hermione Granger great reverence to authority. If she was wanted to be Harry Potter's friend, which she did, she needed to be viewed very positively by the headmaster and other staff. She hadn't planned to befriend Harry, it honestly did seem to be too much of a hassle, but they got on great and she hadn't really encountered many in her house that she liked. The sorting hat did have a bit of a problem placing her because she definitely would have suited well in Ravenclaw and also in Slytherin, but she had chosen the red and gold house for variety of reasons the chief among them the fact that it was considered an extremely light house and all of its members almost above reproach and Hermione is rather calculating in that aspect, so she hadn't chosen a side yet, being only eleven, but until then Gryffindor would keep her under the radar if she would begin to explore the more darker aspect of magic.
She didn't like the headmaster, she had researched him and other staff and talked to her mother and he did seem to be a great behind the scenes man to her. Like her mother said there was nothing straight forward about the headmaster and everything he did was calculated. Her mother had kept tabs on the magical world and had employed people to keep her updated on certain people the headmaster being one of them, so Hermione had some information prior to her attendance.
Her adventures were great fun but she did have some difficulties understanding how the headmaster could allow so many things go wrong in only two years, the incompetent teachers and a full grown basilisk roaming the plumbing just seem to be things that a man as powerful as he was should be able to prevent.
Another thing she has trouble comprehending was Harry situation and general disposition towards his status in the magical world. Granted he was only eleven and then twelve but if it had been her she would have researched her past, not just waited for people to offer information. Like she knew her father was his father's best friend and apparent betrayer but Harry didn't know he existed. She had feeling he was being mistreated in some way in his home, he was way too small and had very little self esteem, and the only time he showed any prowess was when anyone either assaulted the memory of his parents or his friends. She expected it to change with time but still he didn't seem to have any drive or ambition, and only when confronted to danger, that shouldn't have existed in the first place, a strong personality, emerged.
After she woke up from her basilisk induced sleep, Harry and Ron told her all about what happened down in the chamber. Ron embellished his side and Harry downplayed his. Ginny seemed to be fine, she had already gone home with her parents, and with the exams cancelled the students just lounged around the grounds until it was time to board the train.
Hermione wandered what generally happened when a muggleborn student was injured at Hogwarts. Muggles supposedly couldn't see Hogwarts therefore couldn't come to be by their injured children's bedside. She went to ask Professor McGonagall, how notifying and then assuring distraught parents was done. And also who in general was responsible for muggleborn students, while they were underage.
„When a muggle student enters Hogwarts they become wards of the school and the headmaster becomes their guardian. When you and the other students were injured we contacted your parents, informed them of what had happened, and ensured that we were of course doing everything to bring you back from your petrified state. Since Hogwarts is supposedly independent of the ministry we do not have take a ministry personnel with us though it is prudent to involve the ministry whenever possible just to ensure good relations. "said the professor.
„Was that done in this case"
„No Ms. Granger, the headmaster wanted to keep things as the muggles say under the radar, and thought it best not to do so now, and I agreed with him."
„My mother wrote to me after she got the news that I had woken up, and wanted me to come home immediately, I said that I wanted to study for these last few days since I had missed so much, I have to say I am surprised you managed to keep her calmed, I would have thought she would have demanded me being brought home or at least to a muggle hospital, she has great respect for modern muggle medicine. "
„Maybe you are too young for this conversation Hermione dear, but when you entered Hogwarts you became a citizen of magical Britain. Your parents really do not have as much say as to your wellbeing as before. At least not when a witch or a wizard know better. "
"Who decides when a witch knows better than a child's parent?" asked Hermione.
"Ms. Granger, Hogwarts and indeed the ministry have a long and might I say successful history in dealing with all matters concerning muggleborns and their affairs. This isn't really something we should be discussing now. Why don't you run along and find your friends, Mr Potter was quite concerned about you while you were petrified, visited you every day, he did."
"Yes, well thank you professor, er for the chat."
And here it was, the other side, muggleborns being plucked from their natural environment, and placed in a completely new one. Their parent effectively loosing their parental rights, to people who "knew better" because they could do magic and the parents couldn't.
Young children losing their support system, Hogwarts really doesn't offer a very good alternative to that system. They don't offer, guidance in any other form than a often rather absentee head of house, either due to overconfidence in the system already in place or to many other responsibilities, f.x. professor McGonagall and her deputy headmistress duties, or the prefects who are first put in place during their owl years and often had way too much to do than to aid or help lost little muggles. The system was flawed, and one had to wander what would happen if the dark purebloods power would extend to not only policies regarding dark magic but also muggleborns and their rights.
Hermione was raised to think, to second guess and to question the status quo. She didn't have solutions but that didn't mean that her observations weren't valid. It bothered her that Harry could wield a lot of power and influence, but was either too moral or maybe naive in his moralities to do so. By placing Harry with the Dursley's, Dumbledore had very effectively ensured that Harry was only subjected to opinions and views that were approved by himself. Granted Harry came to the wizarding world unspoilt, humble and caring which were all good qualities but he was also very unsure of himself and had very little self esteem. He didn't trust his own self worth and therefore didn't trust his own observations and heart, when it came to this new world. A man as clever and accomplished as the headmaster had to have noticed how small and unassuming Harry was when he arrived at the sorting feast, after having seen hundreds of eleven year olds he should have noticed something was wrong. Not to mention the fact that Hagrid surely mentioned how difficult his family had been when he went to retrieve him, their behaviour alone should have sent up some red flags to a seasoned educator such as Dumbledore. Even if all the other staff turned a blind eye to his appearance and his reluctance to go home during Christmas and summer vacations, the headmaster who came across as all knowing and really based his whole public character as a altruistic grandfather, he should in Hermione's humble opinion at least give the wizarding worlds saviour more guidance than he appeared to do.
If Dumbledore placed Harry with the Dursley's to ensure that Harry would be a malleable and gullible child and teenager, one had to wander what his endgame was.
