A/N: Here's Chapter Four. Sorry for it being so late, I had a significant problem with my internet.
This one should be fun; time to create lessons and make stuff up, as well as make Hermione very smart.
Everything is Jo Rowling's creation, other than what is not.
Please R&R (Read and Review). Thank you!
Chapter Four: Lessons – Part 1
The next day, Hermione woke up to sunlight streaming through the window. Getting out of bed, she got her towel and clothes for the day and went into the shower. She looked around at the dorm. She had just noticed the deep-red carpet that covered the floor. She looked at her two dormmates. They were both asleep.
Walking into the bathroom, she noticed that it too was decorated in a Gryffindor theme. Some of the tiles were a deep red that matched the curtains, hangings and carpet in the dorm. Even the tap and shower nozzle was a golden colour.
When she was under the shower stream, Hermione realised that she was actually very happy and proud to be a Gryffindor. She made a note of sending her parents a letter later today and later on in the week. She would perhaps ask for some more money and attempt to see if Hogwarts had any sort of shop where you could buy stuff such as blankets to show off your house colours. It would be quite nice.
Stepping out of the bathroom in her robes, she saw Parvati was up and moving her stuff.
'Morning,' she said chirpily to Hermione. Apparently Parvati, like Hermione, was a morning person.
'Morning,' replied Hermione. She looked over at Lavender, intending to wake her.
'Don't bother, I've tried three times. Twice she tried to tell me to "snooze",' snorted Parvati, looking over at Lavender. 'I don't really think she's a morning person.'
'No, apparently not,' said Hermione. She grabbed her wand, and used a simple spell she had seen in a book during the summer, and magically, dried her hair.
'Well, I'll see you down at breakfast,' she said to Parvati.
'Yeah, see ya,' replied Parvati, walking towards the bathroom, with a towel in her hands. Hermione walked down the spiral staircase, and through the portrait hole. Walking down the staircases and corridors, she looked around at the hundreds of portraits lining the walls. There were so many different ones.
When she reached the Great Hall, she saw that she was relatively early, as most of the school, and even teachers seemed to be missing. She went and sat down near the Weasley twins, who, she was surprised to see, were rather cheerful.
'Hello,' said Hermione.
'Oh, hello Hermione,' said one of them.
'How are you this morning?' asked the other.
'Good, but I have to admit, I am surprised to see you two up this early. I thought you would be those types of people who hated mornings,' she said.
They laughed, 'Well, not really. See, we love to prank people, and the best time to do that is the morning, when most people are still sleeping' said one. 'Eh, George?'
'Exactly. See, the morning gives you time to prepare a prank, without any disturbance. Meaning that you can actually, successfully prank someone,' said George.
'The recipient is also very irritated, being woken up by your prank,' said Fred.
Hermione was impressed. The impression the twins had left on Hermione yesterday was that they were the schools juvenile pranksters; stupid, pathetic, but still funny. But it seemed that while they ere pranksters, they were smart about it. Hermione did sense that they had some interesting secrets, and probably knew quite a bit about Hogwarts.
Hermione filled her plate with toast, eggs and bacon. She filled her cup with some milk and ate. The Weasley twins looked at her and said: 'Listen, Hermione. You're a first year, so you probably need some help. Here's a few tips' said George, seriously.
'Stay away from Filch, the caretaker. He's pretty much a sadistic old bastard,' said Fred. 'He's been here forever and knows almost every single secret passage. That means he can show up out of nowhere. He can punish you pretty harshly. Mainly it's detention, where you have to clean something without magic. But he always goes on about how he wishes he had chains and whips. Apparently Dumbledore's predecessor, Armando Dippet, banned that with full support of the Board of Governors and the Ministry.'
'Avoid Mrs Norris. She's the red-eyed cat of the bastard. She is generally Filch's lookout. She's the only thing Filch loves in this world. That's, mainly because she looks like the devil's cat. But we're pretty sure they have a telepathic link. Cos if she sees trouble, Filch is there in a matter of seconds,' said George.
'Also avoid Peeves,' started Fred.
'Your brother told us to avoid him, yesterday,' said Hermione.
'Yes, well, Percy is bound to give good advice, sometimes,' said Fred.
'Occasionally,' said George.
'Rarely,'
'Once a month,'
'Once a season,'
'Once a-,'
'I get it!' said Hermione. George looked at her.
'Yes, well, anyway, Peeves is terrible. Where me and George might simply pull a trick that is funny, it doesn't usually hurt anyone,' continued Fred.
'By anyone, he means Ravenclaws, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. Slytherins aren't human,' added George.
'Yes, anyway, Peeves creates mayhem. He could hurt you, pull your nose, try drop stuff on you, etcetera, etcetera,' said Fred. 'The point is; avoid him.'
'Thank you, any other advice?' asked Hermione, finishing her breakfast.
'Yes, don't interact with Slytherins, they will scar you,' said George.
'Don't get in trouble with the teachers, they will put you in detention,' continued Fred.
'Don't play with any cats, you don't know. It could be Mrs Norris-,'
'-or Professor McGonagall,' Fred interrupted.
'Professor McGonagall!? Why would Professor McGonagall be a cat?' asked Hermione, surprised.
'She's an animagus. Someone who can turn into an animal at will,' added Fred, at Hermione's confused look.
'Continuing on, don't piss off Snape. He will be harsh and unfair, but that's because he's a git,' said George.
'He will take any opportunity to dock points off any other house other than Slytherin,' said Fred.
'He favours them?' asked Hermione, shocked that a teacher would do such a thing.
'Yeah, unfortunately McGonagall doesn't favour us. She's our Head of House,' added Fred, at Hermione's confusion.
'Anyway, Hermione, be good, overall. Okay? Okay,' finished George.
'How did you find out about McGonagall?' asked Hermione.
'Yeah, that was really unfortunate for us, remember Fred?' asked George of his twin.
'Oh yeah, unpleasant, that was,' replied Fred, with a nervous laugh.
'How so?' asked Hermione, curious to know what had happened.
'It was our first year. We'd been here for just a few months; it was just before Christmas,' began George.
'We were walking to dinner, when we saw a cat in the Transfiguration corridor. We wondered whose cat it was. We thought it might be a Slytherins. So we practically attacked it, surprising the poor cat,' continued Fred.
'I was holding it tightly. We decided to go back to Gryffindor tower, where we continued holding the cat. It was squirming and all. Me and Fred started discussing what we should do with the cat. That's when the cat started actually scratching and trying to bite me' said George, with a distant look on his face.
'We'd said some pretty nasty things, and then the cat managed to bite George, who let it go in pain,' said Fred, looking at Hermione with a grin. 'We were then horrified, as the cat proceeded to transform into Professor McGonagall. She looked immensely flustered and disheveled. She screamed at us. I don't think she's ever been so mad. Some of the other students in the common room watched us in a mix of fear and amusement.'
'We ended up getting Howlers the next day from Mum,' said George. 'We got five detentions, separate from each other. Mum promised to ground us when we got back home for Christmas.'
'So we decided to stay here at Hogwarts that Christmas,' continued Fred with a grin. 'We were meant to go home, but we approached Flitwick and asked if we could stay. He said we needed to talk to our Head of House, but when we said that that was probably a bad idea, he organized it. It would have been much worse if we actually had done something to her' added Fred.
'Thankfully, we didn't. Though we got another Howler, each on the day after the start of the holidays. Mum was furious we hadn't gone home. Called us cowardly,' said George.
'Dad even added in that we weren't worthy of being Gryffindors,' said Fred. 'We didn't get any Christmas presents from anyone in the family, even, except Ginny, Bill and Charlie. Our younger sister and older brothers' he added. 'They thought it was hilarious.'
'Yet I seem to remember the two of you couldn't look at me for the rest of the year. In fact, the first time you looked me in the face after that incident was when you were selected as Beaters last year,' said a voice behind them. The Weasley twins and Hermione jumped. They looked around to see Professor McGonagall there, her lips pressed into a thin line, but the edges curving up slightly.
'Well, Professor, you are, after all very intimidating,' said George, bowing his head.
'And an amazing woman of courage, who represents the values and traits of Gryffindor House perfectly ma'am,' said Fred, surpassing his brother by actually standing up and bowing.
'While I appreciate your compliments and admire your flattery Mr and Mr Weasley,' Professor McGonagall said, with a smirk on her face. 'The time is right for you to be heading to your first class, which, according to these timetables' she said, looking down at a piece of parchment, before handing one each to the twins, 'is Muggle Studies. I am sure your father would be proud of you choosing this subject' she added.
'Yes Professor,' said George, and taking their timetables, he led his brother out of the Great Hall, leaving Hermione alone with Professor McGonagall. The teacher turned around to face Hermione.
'I hope that whatever Misters Weasleys said to you will help, Miss Granger. But I think this will help even more,' said Professor McGonagall, handing Hermione a piece of parchment, 'your timetable.'
'Thank you, Professor,' said Hermione, looking down at her timetable. Professor McGonagall smiled at her.
Hermione saw that she had three subjects today; Potions, Herbology and Charms. She looked at her watch. Potions had already begun. She gasped. Professor McGonagall noticed and quickly said: 'First years have the morning off, mainly to adjust to their new environment.'
Hermione let out her breath. She had been worried that she would be late, but she needn't have worried. She looked back down at her parchment and saw that she had double Potions on Friday. That meant she didn't have to worry about it until the end of the week. She noticed the rest of the timetable:
Student Timetable:
Name: Hermione Granger
Gender: Female
House: Gryffindor
Date of Birth: September 18th, 1979 (aged 11 years, first year)
Monday
Potions (9 o'clock)
Herbology (1 o'clock)
Charms (2:30)
Tuesday:
Transfiguration (9 o'clock) X2
Defence Against the Dark Arts (1 o'clock) X2
Wednesday:
Charms (10:30)
Transfiguration (1 o'clock)
History of Magic (2:30)
Astronomy (11 o'clock – pm)
Thursday:
History of Magic (9 o'clock)
Defence Against the Dark Arts (10:30)
Herbology (1 o'clock)
Charms (2:30)
Friday:
Potions (9 o'clock) X2
Herbology (1 o'clock)
History of Magic (2:30)
Hermione decided that since she didn't have anything to do that morning, she would send her parents a quick letter, before organizing herself. She still had to unpack her stuff, as well. That's when she remembered about her question. She turned around, towards Professor McGonagall.
'Professor? Is there any place where I could buy merchandise that is supportive of Gryffindor?' asked Hermione. The professor smiled down at her.
'Getting into the house spirit already, Miss Granger?' asked Professor McGonagall. 'To answer your question, however, yes, there is. 'Wendell's Wizarding Goods and Merchandise' is the place to go. It's in Diagon Alley.'
She left the Great Hall, and twenty minutes later was at her desk in her dorm. She had found some parchment, a few quills and some ink. She had organized all her stuff for the afternoon lessons. Her dragon hide gloves were already in her bag for Herbology. She had packed some parchment, quills and ink for Charms, as well. She was now in the process of colour-coding her timetable.
She finished that activity, and decided to unpack. Getting out her clothes, she hung it all in her wardrobe, before putting all of her books and the sort onto the shelf behind the bed. When she finished organizing everything, she sat down and started the letter to her parents:
Dear Mum and Dad,
Hogwarts is absolutely amazing. When we arrived, we travelled by boat across the lake and were then sorted by a magical hat. The hat considered putting me in Ravenclaw (the smart and witty house), but decided on Gryffindor in the end (the brave house).
I share a dorm with two other girls, Parvati and Lavender. I like Parvati, she's quite nice, but Lavender is a bit of a chatter-box. The food here is delicious and I'm eating the desserts in moderation, Mum. No boys have come towards me yet, Dad.
I've walked around the castle a bit and it's amazing. It's so massive.. There are literally hundreds of paintings, which seem to sulk all day. In fact, the most liveliest painting is perhaps that of the Fat Lady. She guards Gryffindor Tower and only allows access to those with the password. I'm not sure how other houses common rooms are protected, but I assume it's magical as well.
I have the morning off today, in order to 'settle in'. I've already unpacked and the lot, but I'm still happy. There is still so much to explore! I have Herbology and Charms today, and hopefully they're fun subjects!
Could you please perhaps go to Diagon Alley (if that's possible) and get me some Gryffindor stuff? Apparently there's quite a good little shop there that sells stuff like that called "Wendell's Wizarding Goods and Merchandise". I know it might be hard, but it would be nice.
I'll write another letter at the end of the week, to tell you about my entire week.
With lots of love,
Hermione.
Hermione finished the letter and read it three times, making sure it sounded right. She then took her bag and, after carefully putting her letter into her bag, she and started off towards the Great Hall for lunch. She had some soup and a bit of potato salad, before setting off towards the owlery.
The owlery was a relatively hard climb. When she finally reached it, she was panting, and holding her stitch. She braced herself against the wall, before bracing and entering the room. It smelled like a mix of bird droppings, feathers and owl treats.
After picking a handsome brown barn owl, Hermione tied her letter to the owl's leg and, after she told the owl where to go, it took off through the window, quickly turning into a small dot on the horizon, before disappearing all together.
Hermione retrieved her bag, and went down the stairs, before setting off towards the greenhouses. It took her almost fifteen minutes to get there, and she arrived just as the bell rang. The door opened and dumpy little witch, wearing a brown pointed hat and a much stained apron walked out.
'Right, come in then. No use standing around here,' said the witch. 'We're in Greenhouse Three today, and for the rest of the year.'
The class of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs followed her into greenhouse. She began the lesson:
'Now then, today will be more of a me talking, and you listening sort of lesson, okay?' she said. 'Right, first of all, welcome to Herbology, and more importantly, welcome to Hogwarts. I know that this is your very first class, so you have every right to be scared.'
The class did seem a bit apprehensive. The students looked at each other, uncertainly.
'My name is Professor Pomona Sprout. Now then, first off, does everyone have the necessary equipment? You need some gloves, best if they're dragon hide,' the witch said, holding up a pair of gloves. 'I also advise you to use a single set of robes for Herbology. Don't use all of your sets; otherwise they'll all get ruined! Now then, what is Herbology? Can anyone tell me?'
Hermione put her hand up, straight in the air.
'Yes, you dear? Miss?' said Professor Sprout, pointing at Hermione.
'Granger, ma'am,' said Hermione. 'Herbology is the study of magical plants and fungi; their uses, both everyday and special uses, as well as their properties and effects.'
'Well done, take ten points to Gryffindor,' said Professor Sprout, noticing Hermione's red tie and the inside of her cloak.
'Now then, give me a few minutes, and I'll be back with a plant to show you.' The class leaned in a bit closer as Professor Sprout went out the back. Hermione wondered what the professor would bring back.
A few minutes later, Professor Sprout returned, holding a pot to her chest. In the pot sat a perfectly ordinary lily, except for the fact that it seemed to be glowing and it's leaves were moving. Hermione recognised it instantly.
'Now then, who can tell me what this is?' asked Professor Sprout. Hermione put her hand up. 'Yes, Miss Granger?'
'It's a European Moonlight Lily. It's essentially a lily, but with special magical properties. It's commonly used in treating werewolf and normal wolf bites, while the actual lily itself is used in traps for werewolves. It's aroma attracts the werewolf, but if the werewolf gets too close, then they die as the lily is actually poisonous. Throughout history, villages have harvested it; both muggle and wizard alike. It's been worn as charms and talisman for centuries in Europe. Although in Eastern Europe they prefer the white rose "luni",' finished Hermione, breathlessly.
'Well done, take another twenty points,' said Professor Sprout, smiling brightly at Hermione. 'Yes the moonlight lily is widely used in Europe to treat bites and protect from werewolves. However, it is, unfortunately, very rare. Only wild ones are effective to protect against werewolves, and they were harvested so much that few places remain where you can find them. Hogwarts is the only place in all of Britain where you can find these lilies. We sell some of the petals every year to St. Mungo's, but unfortunately it's not enough,' finished Professor Sprout, looking sadly at the little flower.
'Anyway, that is a simple example of what we will be doing in Herbology. Now, it is very important for you to remember that when we come to actually working with plants, which is practically every day, you have to be careful. Every plant we work with has some side effects; some are good, but mostly bad. So please don't be stupid,' said Professor Sprout.
'Herbology is a very important subject. A N. E. W. T. is required in Herbology for a wide range of careers, so pay close attention. It is especially important if you come across a plant in the middle of nowhere and need to know what it is, which is why, today, we will be learning the different types of stems and what they mean; whether they're deadly, infectious, edible, etcetera,' said Professor Sprout.
The rest of the class passed with Hermione and the others flipping through One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, by Phyllida Spore. Hermione found it interesting, though she did wish that they could have worked with some actual plants.
When the bell rang, the class packed up and left. The Gryffindors headed for Charms. When they reached the classroom, they saw tiny Professor Flitwick talking with a fifth year about O. W. L. s.
'Yes, Miss Haveshot, those are very likely to come up, so you should probably study up on them,' they heard Professor Flitwick say. The girl left and Flitwick turned to face his new class.
'Come in!' he said. The class piled in. Hermione chose a seat at the front of the class. When the class settled down, Professor Flitwick went up to the front and stood up on a pile of books. Someone sniggered.
'Hello, and welcome to your very first Charms lesson. My name is Professor Flitwick. I am the Charms professor and also the Head of Ravenclaw House,' he said. 'I will first take the register to see if all of you are present.'
Flitwick picked up the register and went through it.
'Granger, Hermione,' he called.
'Present,' said Hermione. Flitwick continued.
'Potter, Harry,' he called.
'Present' Harry called. Flitwick looked up and suddenly gave an excited squeak like a mouse. He tripped and fell over, off his stack of books. A few people sniggered this time. The tiny professor recovered and stood back up on his pile of books. He finished the register without any more incidents and turned towards the class.
'Now then, Charms is the beautiful branch of magic which allows us to create anything from chocolate frogs to pumpkin juice, or to make a toad disappear or bring something that is far away closer to us. While some say this is a relatively easy subject, and it is' said Professor Flitwick. He continued 'The principals involved, however are complex, not as complex as Transfiguration, but whereas in Transfiguration you may apply the same principals to a variety of objects, you cannot do so in Charms with such liberty. There are some things which have similar principals, but very few.'
Professor Flitwick paused and then, waving his wand, he made a goblet appear on everyone's desk. With another wave, water appeared in the goblets, and with a third wave, chocolate appeared beside everyone.
'This is just a simple example of Charms, and what you can do. We will not, however, always be learning Charms, there are some standard principals and, of course, there are also some rules that we must learn, before we go off, waving our waves like baboons!' squeaked Professor Flitwick.
He then wrote some of the principals on the board, using his wand. 'Another example of Charms' he said simply. The class was happy and impressed.
Hermione, herself, was happy at this class. It seemed to look promising. A class that she would enjoy and Professor Flitwick looked like an excellent teacher for all of this new material. She remembered that he could have, just as easily been her Head of House, instead of Professor McGonagall. She smiled; the teachers at Hogwarts seemed to be rather nice. That, in itself, was a reassuring thought.
When the class ended, Hermione packed up her stuff and went to her dormitory. The classes for today were over. She had dinner in about an hour, before she could get more information regarding Hogwarts and the standard practices there.
After leaving her bag on her bed, Hermione went downstairs to the common room, and choosing an armchair next to the fire, she pulled out her book and read. The book was about the more recent history of the wizarding world, specifically Voldermort and his followers. Hermione was rather intent on learning everything she could about this wizard, especially given that Professor McGonagall seemed to think that he would return.
She was also partially interested in Voldermort because of, she admitted to herself, her fellow classmate. The bespectacled raven-haired boy had sat behind her in Charms, along with Ron. She had overheard them discussing a variety of subjects, ranging from Quidditch, Slytherin, Hogwarts, Quidditch, food and more Quidditch. Ron had seemed to have done most of the talking, while Harry added a bit here and there.
Hermione had wondered why this was. Harry Potter was, after-all a half-blood wizard, though she had found out that no one knew where he had gone for ten years after his parents had been killed.
Hermione strongly suspected that he had been hidden in the muggle world, out of sight, and out of reach, perhaps partially because of the fame, and partially because of the danger. Though she didn't understand why he would have not been informed of the wizarding world. He seemed just as, if not more so, oblivious to the various wizarding issues as Hermione. He hadn't known what Quidditch was and had not, as she heard, known about the pure-blood bigotry of some families.
An hour later, Hermione went down to dinner. It was much the same as last night, although there were a few additions, as well as the event not being as grand. Hermione sat next to Parvati and Lavender, the two of whom, were discussing the latest gossip. It seemed that Hogwarts, like any other school, had its own rumour mill. Hermione strongly suspected that in future, Lavender would become the top leader of that rumour mill. She had already seemed to have found 'secret sources', as she called them.
After eating, Hermione decided to go to the library. She had learned that a library was somewhere in the castle. She soon found it; a rather large door was guarding it. Pushing the door inside, she walked in and gasped.
In front of her, and to the side, were what seemed like hundreds of thousands of books. They all seemed to be able to shelve themselves as well as float around. The shelves stretched high up to the twenty-foot ceiling. A few people were milling about, studying for their subjects. Most were down at dinner still, and very little homework had been given on the first day back.
Hermione didn't even know where to begin. There seemed to books everywhere. At her old school, the library was relatively large, with a collection of eleven thousand two hundred and fifty seven books. This library seemed to be about twenty times that. Hermione randomly picked up a book from the shelf. One Thousand and One Simple Household Charms, by Sandra Bellinsky. Hermione decided to take it out. It would probably be useful in the future.
She walked around the library for the next two hours. When she finished, she went to the counter. A short, elderly, stern-looking witch appeared. The name on the desk indicated that she was Madam Pince.
'Yes?' she questioned.
'I'd like to get this book out,' said Hermione, politely.
'Well what's your name, dear?' Madam Pince asked.
'Hermione Granger,' said Hermione.
Madam Pince waved her wand at the book. She said: 'There, now then, books are issued for a period of four weeks, and they must be returned for the summer. Also note that the Restricted Section is out of bounds, unless you receive a note from a teacher telling you specifically what book.' Madam Pince nodded to a corner of the library, which Hermione hadn't noticed before.
A small door was there, with Restricted Section written on it. It seemed to be enough to keep most people out. Madam Pince also seemed to keep a hawk's eye on that particular corner.
'Thank you for the book,' said Hermione. She decided to go back to the dormitory. Tomorrow Hermione had double Transfiguration and double Defence Against the Dark Arts. She hoped that there would be some work there.
Hermione thought back to the letter she had written her parents. She hoped that they had gotten it by now. She didn't know how long owls took. Harry's owl, she had heard him call Hedwig, seemed to care for her master and had come in that morning, eating some toast and nipping affectionately on Harry's ear. Hermione didn't really think that either of these things was very hygienic, but she ignored it. It seemed to be the accepted behavior of owls in the wizarding world.
Hermione decided to go up to bed, she found that she was, surprisingly, rather tired. She put on her pyjamas and went into the bathroom to wash up. She then lay in her bed for another hour or so, reading the book she had gotten from the library. She decided to try and create a small flame. She pointed her wand at the candle on the bedside table and said the incantation. The candle lit up. Hermione welled up with pride.
A bit later, Lavender and Parvati came up, and after washing up themselves and drawing the hangings around their beds shut, they went to sleep. Hermione decided to do the same. She put her book down and rolled over, blowing out the candle. She was soon asleep, dreaming of the following day, with her next few lessons.
So, this is the very first part of Hermione's lessons. Originally, this was meant to be one chapter, but I've decided to split it into two. The fifth chapter: Lessons – Part 2 will be up soon. It will focus on Transfiguration, Defence Against the Dark Arts, a bit of Astronomy, and of course Snape will be there with his evil subject of Potions.
I look set to do about fifteen or so chapters in this fanfiction overall. The second in this series, (which will be titled "Hermione Granger: Second Year – Slytherins Monster, by the way) will be up, hopefully before The Hunger Games: Catching Fire comes out! Yes, it may be out that soon!
The simple reason is that I really want to get to the third book, which is where, personally, I think the real action starts; the third book!
I would greatly appreciate any reviews with suggestions or just simple comments!
Thanks,
SeekerGranger
