Excogitate: To think out; devise; invent

February 3, 1992

Where is it, where is it, where is it!

Hermione Granger was not the sort of person who misplaced things. All of her books were arranged by subject and author. Her clothes were neatly folded and (at least her Muggle things) arranged by color and seasonal use, every sock and mitten accounted for. Her notes were all chronological and sorted by subject. And her homework was always filed in order of completion then due date.

So it made absolutely no sense that the Charms essay she had finished a week ago was not in her bag, nor her Charms book, nor anywhere in her trunk. In twelve hours she had to hand in a foot and half about security charms and right now she had about a foot and half less than she'd had yesterday. Where could it be!

In desperation, Hermione flung an old Oxford sweatshirt out of her trunk that she knew she hadn't touched since she'd arrived at school five months before. It did not reveal her Charms homework, but a small purple journal that had been tucked in the folds of the sweatshirt tumbled to the floor with a thump. Hermione bent to retrieve it. Little white flowers spread across the fabric cover and in black marker in the corner marked the book as '91-'92.

With a small burst of recognition, Hermione realized what it was: the little journal her parents had given her for her twelfth birthday, as they had every year since she had started school. They'd given it to her early so she could take it to school with her, but Hermione hadn't opened it once this year. A small rush of guilt flooded her. It had been a point of personal pride that Hermione had recorded her thoughts, schedules, and academic advances on a relatively regular basis every year since she'd been able to write well enough to do so. Normally she had had plenty of time to spend scribbling away in a journal. She had usually done it at lunch at her old primary school to make eating alone less awkward.

Her homework crisis momentarily forgotten, Hermione flipped the little book open, smiling a little at the smell of fresh paper. Most of the lilac pages were blank, covered with neat, enticing lines with elegant little flowers in the corners. But she had filled the first page with smooth, looping script. She remembered it now, the plan for the school year she had written out the night before getting on the Hogwarts Express.

It began with getting to know the Prefects and older students in order to get tips on studying and the curriculum and rules, getting placed in a house, showing her teachers what sort of student she was. Then it went on to list each area of study she wanted to focus on in her spare time to better understand the Wizarding world.

Hermione shook her head, smiling amusedly at her own overzealousness. Half of these things she couldn't hope to study for at least another year or two. Why had she ever thought she would need to tackle the Wizarding court system in her first year? She hadn't followed half of the plan she'd derived for herself. She hadn't even kept up with her journal! Hogwarts was far too busy and interesting to keep up.

But it was the goals listed at the bottom that this plan was supposed to lead up to that really caught her eye. She had put them at the bottom of her plans for the past two or three years.

Be a model student

Try to make friends

A nostalgic sort of feeling spread through her as she thought of the girl who had written that. It had only been five months ago, but somehow it felt almost like a different lifetime. She snorted softly as she ran a finger along the first goal. Before it had been the only one she achieved. Little did she know that the second would make the first impossible. At least in her case. If she hadn't given up her model studentship when she'd lied to her teachers about going after a troll, it had flown out the window when she'd set a professor's robes on fire.

But she found the thought didn't disappoint her at all, now. Something the girl who had written those goals all those months ago could never have predicted. Looking back on it, her priorities had been all wrong. She should have put those goals in the opposite order.

Still smiling slightly, she shut the book and tossed it back into her trunk. Maybe one of her friends knew what she'd done with her essay. She thought she'd go ask them.

As it turned out, Hermione Granger was not good at sticking to long-term plans. But with friends like hers, how could anyone really blame her?

A/N: A bit on the longer side, but as it turns out, I'm not good at saying things quickly. :) I've wanted to do something like this for a while now with Hermione, so I got a bit carried away.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys are all great, really really great! :D