Hermione
Please be time please be time please be time. She thought to herself as she rolled over on her bed to look at the clock on her nightstand for probably the fiftieth time that morning. It showed 6:30 am.
"Close enough!" she whispered excitedly to herself and sat upright in her bed, stretching out all the cobwebs and aches that had made themselves present over the night. Last night she had managed to get exactly zero hours of sleep. How all of the other first year girls in her dorm had managed to fall asleep she would never know, and how one of them, in particular, could snore that loud was an even greater mystery. The excitement, nervousness, and anxiety had been much too overwhelming for her, similar to that of the feeling she always got on the night of Christmas Eve.
After she had unpacked all of her school supplies and clothes last night following the opening ceremonies, she had immediately built a fort of books on her bed and she began diving into some last minute reading. Even if she had basically already finished all the books she had bought over the summer she still felt like she would be miles behind everyone else here at Hogwarts. That fear of being so far behind everyone else had only deepened last night at the opening feast.
As she had been eating her first ever meal at Hogwarts she couldn't help but overhear a lot of the nearby conversations from the other first year Ravenclaws. Most of them were telling stories of the magic their parents let them practice over the summer or the advanced spell-books they had borrowed from an older brother or sister. Hermione had never so much as even tried to practice a spell yet, and she didn't even know what an advanced book of magic might look like. The most magical thing she had ever done was the one burst of accidental magic she did when she turned her mother's dental drill into a red balloon when she was eight. So basically this meant that she was screwed.
A yawn escaped her mouth as she shook the last few kinks out of her shoulder and stepped into her slippers on the floor beside her bed. Even with all of the fears she currently held she still couldn't help the smile that was growing on her face and the excitement building inside her that she still felt at the moment. It was finally time! The first day of classes is today!
It took a little bit of self-control on her part to not burst out in an excited squeal, but thankfully she was able to keep the excitement bottled up and not embarrass herself in front of the sleeping Ravenclaws. She reached over to her nightstand and picked up her class schedule, which corners were already worn down from being handled practically twenty-four-seven, and looked under the Monday section again:
7:00-9:00am Breakfast
9:15-10:15am Charms
11:00am-12:00pm Potions
12:00-1:00pm Lunch
1:15-2:15pm Dark Arts
2:30-3:30pm History of Magic
Her first day of classes certainly did not look like an easy day by any stretch. Already on the first day of school, her schedule was jam-packed, and she imagined that meant that the rest of her day after her classes were finished would also be filled with homework and reading. Not that she really minded having homework or readings to do, though.
She made her way over to the small oak bookshelf beside her nightstand and picked out the one dark arts book that was not already on her bed. She set the book down on her bed and sifted through the large pile of books spewed across her bed for the ones that she would need today. Thankfully her parent's had splurged for her over the summer and bought her a new larger school bag, there was no way her old one would have held this many large books.
After she found all the books she would need for today's classes she carefully placed each of the books into her new school bag along with the rest of the supplies she thought she made need for the day. Satisfied that she had everything she would need she made her way over to the small dresser next to her bed and got out her uniform.
She had tried on her school robes a few times before over the summer and had even fallen asleep a number of times over the summer whilst she was still wearing them, but even still it was hard to get used to wearing robes when you had grown up wearing nothing but jeans your entire life. Getting used to wearing a tie had also been difficult. Learning to tie a tie had been easy enough thanks to her dad, but she still wasn't used to the feeling of having something that tight around her neck all day long.
She pulled on the white button-down shirt and quickly tied the blue and bronze Ravenclaw tie around the collar before throwing on the gray Hogwarts vest over everything and slipping her arms into her black school cloak. Looking at the clock again she saw that there was still had twenty minutes before breakfast officially started but she figured it would be okay if she arrived at the Great Hall a little early. Plus she was still slightly terrified about getting lost in the castle, so leaving early would give her some extra time in case that fear became a reality.
She quietly threw her school bag over her shoulder and instantly regretted that decision as her body was dragged down to the floor with a thud from the sheer weight of the bag. With her cheeks now a bright red she glanced around the girl's dorm to see if she had woken anyone up with all of her racket, thankfully it seemed that she had not. Now prepared for the weight of the bag she more slowly placed the strap over her shoulder and quietly tiptoed across the dorm to the door.
The Ravenclaw common room was, for the most part, empty. One female student, who looked to be at least four or five years older than Hermione, had a book open on her lap and was reading by one of the many fireplaces scattered about. Other than that though common room was quiet and void of any other students. The older girl paid her no mind as she made her way across the common room and towards the entrance door.
The entrance to the Ravenclaw common room was located atop of one of the many towers of the castle. From the map of the castle in Hogwarts, a History that she had studied religiously she remembered that from the base of the castle it was just two lefts and one right before she would arrive at the Great Hall, hopefully.
The tower's staircase felt endless, and Hermione had to imagine that everyone in Ravenclaw must have the most toned legs out of all the other houses. She was only a few steps in and already she could feel a slight burning in her calves, the weight of her bag probably didn't help things. Thankfully as she started to have to catch her breath from near exhaustion she arrived at the bottom of the spiral staircase and headed off towards the Great Hall.
Finding her way to the Great Hall thankfully didn't take long. After turning the second corner she had begun to second guess herself but thankfully a few of the pictures in the hallway were nice enough to help her keep on the right path. The Great Hall still looked as magical empty of students as it had last night during the ceremonies.
Although there were a few million fewer stars covering the ceiling, the current view of a clear blue sky with a hint of purple was just as striking. She made her way over to the Ravenclaw table, her footsteps echoing off the walls of the Great Hall, and found herself a seat at the center of the table. She thought that the Great Hall had sort of a beautiful eerie silence when you were there alone. It was almost as if you could hear the magic flowing through the bricks on the wall when there weren't other students their chatting away. It was very peaceful and calming being in here by yourself.
As much as she wanted to just sit there and enjoy the moment Hermione Granger was never one to waste precious time. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her charms book and immediately skimmed to the page she had previously bookmarked last night.
The Dancing Feet Spell (Tarantallegra) is a charm used to force another person's legs to begin dancing uncontrollably. The spell requires a clear, unobstructed view of the target to be successfully cast. The spell is classified as a jinx and can be easily recognized by is distinguished lime green color. Proper hand movement for casting the spell should follow the following movements: 8 o'clock-10 o'clock-12 o'clock-2 o'clock-4 o'clock.
Hermione made the spell's hand motions with her quill as she read the spell's description. While it was hard to think of when she would ever need to cast a spell like the tarantallegra spell most of the other spells she had already read about in her charms book seemed amazing. Although she had yet to actually attend a class at Hogwarts yet, based off of what she had read of all of her courses so far she certainly thought that charms seemed like one of the more interesting and useful ones.
She had spent most of her night last night rereading her two charms books. Not only was she reading ahead in the subject more because she found it interesting, but as a Ravenclaw, she felt she had a certain duty to make sure she was good at charms since her Head of House would be her charms professor. Hermione had read all about her Head of House as well as all of her other professors in her history book. Though most of the information in her texts were limited one thing was made clear and that was that to be a professor at Hogwarts it appeared you had to be one of the best.
Her Head of House, Professor Flitwick, was not only one of the most published authors on shield spells, but he also was part of England's national orchestra and was the current European Dueling Champion. Almost all of her other professors resumes looked just as impressive if not even more impressive, which meant impressing her professors would either be impossible or close to it.
She desperately hoped that she would get to learn how to cast some spells today in her classes and that wizarding first day of classes was not like her grade-school first day of classes where all the teachers did was introduce themselves. She was growing tired of reading about all these interesting spells in all of her books but not knowing how to actually cast them. She was hoping that as soon as she learned a few spells in class that she could start practicing spells on her own.
The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the Great Hall as a group of two older looking Hufflepuff girls made their way into the Hall. Hermione checked her watch to see it showing five minutes until breakfast time before returning back to her book. After successfully making it through three more pages in her charms book a small pop sounded throughout the Hall and a plethora of small pots, plates, and bowls appeared on the table, all of them filled with an amazing spread of anything you could possibly want for breakfast.
It was hard to contain oneself from overeating when there were so many options to choose from. Hermione figured one of the first lessons she would have to learn at Hogwarts would be self-control. Not wanting to gain fifteen pounds on her first day of classes Hermione settled for two pancakes, a banana, and a few slices of bacon. She ate her breakfast slowly and continued to read through her charms book, knowing that she still had quite a while until she had to be at her first class.
As she made her way further through her breakfast and book more and more students began to trickle in. It made her feel a little better when she saw that most of the students who looked about her age also had bags under their eyes and looked tired too. One cute looking brown-haired Gryffindor boy still even had an imprint of a book on the side of his face she noted as he walked into the Great Hall yawning. She was glad she had not been the only one who could not sleep last night.
A group of older Ravenclaws eventually sat down at their table a few feet away and began chatting loudly about their class schedules. Hermione tried to not eavesdrop at first but eventually found it impossible to tune them out. The group of Ravenclaws were all dreading having potions for first period and apparently thought Professor Snape was the worst professor at the school. The more the group talked the more nervous it made Hermione and she had to mentally force herself to stop listening out of fear that she might start to panic.
After trying to return to reading her book and failing a few times she packed her book back into her bag and decided that she would head to her first class early. Hopefully, she could find a quiet spot there to read.
The castle's halls were much livelier now than they had been earlier, most of the students were all headed towards the Great Hall for breakfast but a few others who all looked like first years had maps in their hands and were wandering the halls aimlessly, appearing to be lost. Hermione looked around at the groups of students who passed her trying to see if maybe she could find Marik, who was at this point the only person she actually knew here at Hogwarts.
She was upset when she learned that Ravenclaws shared all of their classes with Hufflepuff and that she would not have any classes with Marik, who had been sorted into Slytherin. The two of them had promised on the train ride over that they would sit next to each other during their classes but now it seemed that their plan had been ruined. Hermione had been ecstatic that Marik and she had seemed to get along well enough. Marik had been nice enough to her during their trip to Diagon Alley with Professor McGonagall together but she had never really expected that he would actually look for her again after that.
Much to her delight though Marik had searched the Express until he had found her compartment and the two of them talked and exchanged notes the entire train ride. Even after the train ride he had stuck by her side for as long as he could. The two of them had ridden the boats to the castle and even stuck together as they waited to be sorted.
Hermione liked Marik; he was easy to talk to and seemed to be a lot like her in many ways. The entire time they talked on the Express not once was there an awkward moment of silence. He even seemed to be just as much of a bookworm as she was. He was funny too and seemed to bring herself out of her shell a little. Never would she have imagined herself cracking jokes or placing bets with someone during her first time at Hogwarts, but sure enough that is exactly what she had done with Marik.
The two of them had whispered and placed bets on where someone would end up being sorted during the sorting ceremony, and Hermione had found herself during the ceremony having to cover her mouth before she let out a burst of laughter at least three different times. All day yesterday thanks to Marik, along with everything else, had turned the day into one of the greatest days of her life. She was not sure what Marik actually thought of her, but she really enjoyed being with Marik and considered him to be her first real friend at Hogwarts, well her first real friend anywhere for that matter.
Hermione would not deny the fact that she was, as all of her grade-school classmates would call her, a nerd and because of that title had grown up with a lonely childhood. She had been at the top of her class in every subject growing up and had earned the reputation of being a bookworm since probably the day she learned to read. The kids she grew up with liked the kids that could kick the kickball far or talk in funny voices, not the girl that could read at an eighth grade level in the first grade. It wasn't that she had never tried to make friends and fit in, she had. It was just that no one wanted to be friends with the know-it-all girl or the girl that never could hang out because she had to go home and read.
She really did hope Marik considered her a friend or at least maybe would in the future. She really did not want to go another year friendless and alone, especially after getting a taste at what having a friend at Hogwarts could be like. However, as she looked around the hallway she had no luck finding her silver-eyed friend.
The walk to her charms classroom was a short one, only made longer from the number of students now in the hallway that she had to walk around. The door to the classroom was unfortunately still locked so Hermione was forced to retreat to a nearby bench outside of the classroom to continue her reading. Thankfully the hallway her charm's classroom was located in was one of the less crowded hallways in the castle and focusing on her book was not as difficult as it had been in the Great Hall.
"Ahh, the spongify spell. That is one of the harder beginner spells for first years, everyone seems to have trouble with the jee sound at the middle." Hermione jumped a little as the voice interrupted her from her book. She looked up from the pages to see her Head of House and charms professor now moving to unlock the door to the classroom. "Coming in?" he asked her as he opened the door.
"Yes, sir," was all she managed to get out as she quickly stood up, grabbed her bag, and followed the professor into the classroom. The classroom was much different than any classroom she had ever been in before. The desks and chairs were setup in a sort of lecture hall type of setup that all faced down to a podium which stood in front of two huge bay windows at the center of the room. The professor hummed a tune as Hermione made her way down the stairway and grabbed a seat at the front of the classroom.
"It is Miss Granger, isn't it?" the professor asked her as he took out some old looking books from his bag and organized them on the desk.
"Yes sir, how did you know?" she asked him, amazed that he somehow already knew her name even when they had never met.
"It is a Head of House's job to know all of his students. How are you getting along so far, have you found everything you need?" he asked her, a sincere look on his face.
"Yes sir I have, thank you," she replied, feeling much more nervous now than she had earlier.
"Very good. If you ever need anything please make sure you ask. Now, if you will please excuse me I need to head back to my office for a bit before class starts," the professor said with a friendly looking smile and made his way out of the classroom.
For a good thirty minutes, Hermione sat alone in the classroom, still reading in her charms book. Slowly students started to trickle into the classroom in small groups, seemingly all of them already all friends and deep in some conversation or another. The entire classroom was filled to the brim with first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs before the professor returned to the classroom. All of the chatter amongst the students died down as the professor cleared his throat and stood up on the platform behind the podium.
"Welcome everyone to charms. I am Filius Flitwick and I will be your charms professor throughout the entirety of your time at Hogwarts. First year charms is an extremely demanding year, as you do not yet have any foundations to build off of like you will in your future years. Because of this, our schedule will be busy and we will not waste any time. With that in mind let us get started. Everyone, please open up your copy of The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 to page three for me, and Miss Granger could you read us the passage at the top of the page," Professor Flitwick announced to the class and Hermione felt her heart's beating increase in its pace as she was being called on by the professor after a mere five seconds into the class. After fumbling through her pages she found the correct page and tried to calm herself down a bit before she started reading.
"The levitation charm is one of the first spells learned by any young witch or wizard. With the charm, a witch or wizard can make things fly with the flick of a wand. The charm is an excellent test of your magic skills, wand control, and above all, patience. There are a number of lesser variations of the levitation charm, such as the hover charm, the rocket charm, and the floating charm, just to name a few, but the levitation charm remains the original and best," Hermione finished reading the passage out loud and she was sure everyone could have heard the nervousness in her voice.
"Thank you, Miss Granger. The levitation spell is the first spell that you all will be learning at Hogwarts. As the passage that Miss Granger just read us stated, it is a very good spell for introducing you to how spellcasting works.
"Now make sure you are listening very carefully and are paying attention to my wand movement. The incantation for the levitation spell is wingardium leviosa, and your wand movement should look like this," Professor Flitwick said, moving his hand slowly to show the class.
"Now everyone take out a quill from your bag and practice casting the spell on the quill. Keep in mind proper incantation and wand movement when casting is the most crucial part of successfully casting a spell. Many spells share similar incantations and wand movements, so if you do not do them both correctly the desired spell will not be successful. Now go," the professor announced and immediately started to walk around the classroom.
Hermione took out her quill and set it down on the desk about a foot in front of her. Taking out her wand she looked over the information in the book again, trying to memorize the phonetics of the incantation and the proper wand movements before she started. Feeling like she had it memorized well enough she raised her wand and tried to focus.
"Wingardiom Leveosa!" She aimed her wand at her quill and waited, but nothing happened. "Windgardium liveosa!" She again aimed her wand at the quill and again nothing happened. "Wingardiem leviosa!" she said the spell again, this time with a little bit of frustration present in her voice. Still, nothing happened, though. After her third failure, she took a few seconds to calm her nerves down before going again. The book said the spell would test your patience, and she knew going into this that there was no way casting spells would be easy. While she took a quick break she looked to her left and right to see how everyone else in the class was doing, thankfully it seemed she was not the only one struggling.
"Wingardium leviosa!" The Hufflepuff girl next to her cast the spell and Hermione was forced to stare on in awe as the girl's quill slowly levitated itself up a few feet into the air before falling back down onto the desk in front of the girl.
"Well done! Well done, Miss Chang! Did you see that everyone? Ten points to Hufflepuff!" Professor Flitwick said, sounding excited as he continued to walk across the classroom. The Hufflepuff girl named Miss Chang sitting next to her was beaming from ear to ear with a grin that made Hermione mad.
That should have been me! She thought angrily to herself, upset and not used to not being the first one to get something in class.
"Wingardium leviosa!" For the fourth time, she pointed her wand at her quill and said the incantation. Much to her surprise and shock, her quill started levitating itself off of the desk and into the air. Hermione was so surprised that she only managed to get her quill about a foot into the air before it fell to the ground.
"Well done Miss Granger! Everyone make sure you are saying gar-dee-um like Miss Cho and Miss Granger just did," Professor Flitwick announced to the class as he helped a nearby student out. Hermione was unable to contain the smile that had appeared on her face. She had just cast her first ever spell! She felt like the moment deserved some celebration, after all, she was now officially a witch! Mentally she shouted for joy for a few moments before picking her wand back up and attempting to successfully cast the spell a second time.
The rest of her first ever class at Hogwarts went by fairly well, although Hermione did find herself getting frustrated a number of times. Wizarding school was definitely more difficult than muggle schools. After her first success in levitating her quill over the next forty minutes of the class, she had only managed to levitate her quill three more times. The Hufflepuff girl next to Hermione had managed to levitate her quill over ten times, and the girl made it a point to clear her throat so that everyone in the class knew it each time she did too. All of which only added to Hermione's frustration more. Using magic was tough, and it felt like you had to get every single factor perfectly right to be even remotely successful and after each casting, you could feel a drain on your body.
"Alright everyone, good first class," Flitwick announced to the room, silencing all of the people still trying to cast the levitation spell. "Good work today everyone. Today's lessons are what you can expect a majority of our lessons in this class to be like, though as we get further into the year and into more advanced charms you may find yourself practicing three or four spells in a single class.
"I would like you all to go ahead and read the entire first chapter of both of your books before next class, and I expect everyone here to be able to cast the levitation spell consistently by the next class. It is from here on out where I will truly begin to push you and your magic. You are dismissed," Flitwick announced to the class and everyone began stuffing their books into their bags and leaving the room. Hermione quickly followed suit and carefully placed all of her class materials back into her bag. Instead of leaving the classroom though she made her way up to the front of the classroom to speak with her Head of House.
"Miss Granger, good job today in class," Professor Flitwick said, a friendly smile placed on his face as he spoke.
"Thank you, sir," she replied, feeling happy that he thought she had done a good job.
"What can I do for you? Please make it quick, I am in a hurry," Professor Flitwick asked, packing up his materials as he did so.
"I was wondering if it would be possible to meet with you later or at some point in the week to go over some more things and get some extra help? It's just that I come from a muggle family so all this is new to me and I don't want to get left behind everyone else," she asked him, hopeful that she could get some private lessons with him.
"Miss Granger, I have not done private lessons with a first year in over thirty-four years. While, yes as a professor I do give certain students private lessons, I deem that privilege to only those who have proven their worth and abilities. If you want private lessons with me, or any professor for that matter you will have to earn it. Our time is valuable and we will not waste it on everyone.
"As to you growing up in a muggle family, you will find Miss Granger that a large portion of the castle is in the same boat as you are. And that is not an excuse for you falling behind. You have all the same resources that everyone else has here at the school, if you do not wish to fall behind I suggest that you fully utilize those resources," Flitwick replied, his tone blunt, and straight to the point. His reply caught her off guard and she was sure he was able to see that she was upset.
"I understand sir," she replied in a quiet, hushed tone after a few moments.
"Me not giving you private lessons does not mean that you are not a good student, Miss Granger. You were sorted into my house after all, so I am more than aware that you will be a good student. Work hard and study harder, show me your potential. When I see that, we can talk again," Flitwick replied, his smile once again warm.
"I will sir, thank you," Hermione replied, forcing a smile up. Following the decline in private lessons from Professor Flitwick, Hermione left the classroom and made her way towards the castle's dungeons.
She was still feeling flustered from Professor Flitwick's answer. Even though he had said that he did not do private lessons with any first years she still felt in some way that she personally was not good enough. That feeling combined with all of the frustration she felt from getting shown up by the Hufflepuff girl in class was putting her in a bad mood.
These feelings were all so new to her. She had never been told no by a professor when she had asked for extra help. And the only time she had ever been beaten in a class was in her fourth grade French class, but that was only because the kid who beat her was French. She didn't know how to handle these emotions. Part of her wanted to cry from the stress they were causing and the other half wanted to go to the library and drown herself in books so that she could prove to Flitwick that she had potential and also to shut that stupid Hufflepuff girl up in their next charms class. For now, though, she would just try and bottle them up. It was potions class time.
The dungeons of the castle gave off a much darker vibe than the rest of the castle did. No pictures hung on the walls of the dungeon and the only thing that stood out from the gray castle bricks was the occasional large oak door or lit torch lighting the hallways.
It was easy enough to find the potions lab. Most of the students who had been in her charms class were making their way through a door at the end of the hallway they were in. She followed them all in and pushed her way through the crowd to the front of the classroom where she grabbed a seat at a round table. The rest of the class filled in slowly and a few new faces showed themselves, but still it was no one she recognized.
All of the other tables in the classroom filled up quickly and Hermione's table was the last to fill up. The three other students who took the seats next to her only did so after confirming there were none elsewhere. Unlike in the charms classroom where students had been talking loudly amongst themselves while waiting for the professor, in this room, no one was saying a word. Apparently, everyone had overheard the same rumors that Professor Snape was the worst professor at Hogwarts. Just as the silence began to get awkward the door to the classroom slammed open and all of the lights in the classroom dimmed.
"There will be no foolish wand-waving or silly incantations in this class. As such, I don't expect you to appreciate the subtle science and exact art that is potion-making. However, for those, select few, who possess, the predisposition. . . I can teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. I can tell you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death.
"Then again, maybe some of you have come to Hogwarts in possession of abilities so formidable that you feel confident enough to not pay attention! Miss Chang! Do you plan on whispering throughout the entirety of my lesson, or will you allow me to continue?" Professor Snape spat, glaring at the Hufflepuff girl that Hermione had been sitting next to in charms class.
I like him already. Hermione thought to herself with a grin as she watched the Chang girl sink lower in her seat with a terrified look on her face.
"Thank you," Professor Snape said after a few seconds of silence and glaring at the girl. "Now we will not be wasting any time. Open your books to page seventeen. Today we will be brewing the wideye potion. I have already provided the materials and supplies you will need for today's lesson and today will be the only day that I do this for you.
"I don't expect any of you to be able to actually get this right, but the wideye potion is a good way to show you how the brewing process works. Begin," Professor Snape ordered and the class immediately started rushing to begin their work, none of them wanting to upset him
Hermione opened her book up to page seventeen and started reading before doing anything else.
The wideye potion, also known as the awakening potion, was a potion which prevented the drinker from falling asleep and could also be used to awaken someone from drugging or concussion. It acted as an antidote for the draught of living death.
Brew times:
Pewter Cauldron: 4 Hours
Brass Cauldron: 2 Hours
Copper Cauldron: 1 Hour
Potion Level: 1
Brewing Instructions:
Step one
Add six snake fangs to the mortar
Add four measures of standard ingredient to the mortar
Add six dried billywig stings to your cauldron
Heat on a medium temperature for thirty seconds
Finely crush the ingredients in the mortar
Add four measures of the crushed ingredients to your cauldron
Stir three times, clockwise
Wave your wand in a counterclockwise motion around the cauldron
Leave to brew for thirty minutes
Step two
Add two sprigs of wolfsbane to your cauldron
Stir three times, counterclockwise
Wave your wand in a clockwise motion around the cauldron
Additional info: It has been found that substituting Dragon bone instead of billywig stings will increase the strength of the finished potion. It has also been found that the addition of three strands of unicorn hair after step one, part five will increase the potions durations. It should be noted that using either one of these additional ingredients will immediately increase the potion level up six levels and will result in the potion becoming more unstable during the brewing process.
Hermione had read through her potions book before over the summer and it still made about as much sense then as it did now. She had absolutely no idea what each of these ingredients was and honestly found it hard to believe a few of them were even real things. Seeing that most of the other students in the class had apparently decided to just dive right in and were already adding ingredients to their cauldrons Hermione scoured the table, collecting the correct number of each of the ingredients, which thankfully Professor Snape had labeled, that she would need for the whole potion.
After gathering the correct number of ingredients from around the table and double checking to make sure she had gotten everything correct Hermione added the first ingredient.
Brewing potions seemed to be simple enough unlike spell casting, and in some ways felt very therapeutic. It felt like doing math problems to her in a lot of ways. You added blank plus blank and that you got you the solution you were looking for. As long as you followed the recipe list and took your time it wasn't too bad. She really enjoyed it overall. Especially after struggling with that levitation charm as much as she did in charms class brewing the potions felt relaxing.
The other three students sitting at her table seemed to be struggling mightily with their potions. One of them spilled his cauldron twice in the first few minutes of brewing and another one of the students had somehow set his potion on fire after he added an ingredient at the wrong time. It made Hermione feel good to see herself doing better than the other students at her table. She didn't want them to fail by any means, but there was nothing better than the feeling you get when you beat someone in something.
After about ten minutes of slowly following the steps, Hermione finished step one and had to wait thirty minutes for the potion to brew itself. Looking over her potion it seemed, for the most part, to resemble how it was supposed to look at this step, and judging by the fact that her potion had not caught on fire she would say that overall it looked like she had done everything right so far. For the next few minutes, while she waited, she reread the recipe list and instructions.
"Professor Snape, do you mind if I ask a question?" she asked the professor as he made his way over to their table to inspect their potions.
"You added the billywig stings a step too early. And you had your heat on high not medium, you can tell by that awful smell. Pour these both out and reread the instructions for the rest of the class. I don't want you wasting any more of my ingredients," Professor Snape spat at two of the students sitting across from her before turning his attention to look at her potion.
"Well done Miss. . ." the professor said, waiting for her to finish his sentence.
"Granger, sir. Hermione Granger," Hermione answered nervously. She had been caught off guard from him saying that she had done well with her potion so far. After everything he had said to the two people before her she had not expected to receive a compliment.
"Well done Miss Granger. I would suggest though next time that when you stir that you do so a little more slowly and make sure you get deeper into the cauldron. Look here," Snape added, pointing at a few specks of ingredients that had collected at the surface of her potion. "You can avoid having that happen by making sure you are stirring everything inside the cauldron. Now, what was your question?" Snape asked her, his expression looking annoyed.
"Thank you, sir, I will make sure to do that next time," she thanked him for the advice quickly before continuing. "I know in a large number of the potion recipes I read in our book say that materials from unicorns and dragons can be used for added effects or different results. Is there a particular reason why it is just dragons and unicorns, and nothing else?"
"Yes, there is. Dragons and unicorns are very magical creatures. Unlike many creatures you find out in the wild, dragons and unicorns have a much higher natural level of magic coursing through them, therefore materials collected from them have much more magic in them than many of your standard ingredients. You will find though as you advance in potions that they are not the only two, though.
"For example, the girding potion that my second years, tried, to brew in my last class has the possibility for you to substitute thestral hair for one of its ingredients. There are many possibilities in brewing potions, Miss Granger; most of them depend on the person brewing them," Professor Snape finished answering her question, his expression and tone never changing the entire time.
Satisfied with his answer and having her curiosity currently quenched Hermione waited the last few minutes out before moving on to the second phase of brewing. This phase was much shorter and only took another three minutes for her to finish. Overall she was happy with her first ever potion, and compared to the rest of the class it looked like she was one of the only ones who had managed to make it to the end. That's more like it! She thought to herself, internally smiling a bright proud smile.
"We are out of time. Those of you who somehow managed to not screw up like the rest of your classmates did please bring your cauldrons to my desk," Snape ordered, and made his way to the front of the class. Hermione, along with four other first years carried their cauldrons to the front of the class and waited for whatever it was Snape planned on doing with them. Snape pulled out an odd looking device that looked similar to a thermometer that her father used to test the temperature of his steaks and stuck it in one of the other first year's cauldron.
"Seventy-six percent accurate Mr. Smith, one more percentile and your potion would have failed the test and probably killed the drinker." Snape sneered as he stuck the device into the next potion on the line. Hermione gulped as she saw that hers would be the last one he checked.
"Seventy-nine percent accurate, Miss Edgecombe. That isn't much better than Mr. Smith's was at all," Snape said, looking annoyed again as he moved the device to the third potion in the line. "Eighty-two percent accurate, Mr. Fletchley," Snape said, and both Hermione and the Hufflepuff boy named Fletchley waited for Snape to say something else like good job or well done, Snape never did, though. Hermione's palms got a little sweaty as Snape stuck the device into her cauldron and she mentally prepared herself for an insult on its inaccuracy.
"Ninety-three percent accurate. Well done, Miss Granger. It appears we have at least one competent brewer in this class," Hermione found herself blushing at the compliment, and could feel all the eyes in the classroom staring her down. "I expect a much better performance out of everyone in the next class. I also expect five inches of parchment on the common ingredient list and their different uses by next class. You are dismissed," Snape said, and immediately turned and left the classroom before anyone had even registered what he had actually said.
Unable to hide the small smile that had appeared on her face following Snape's words, Hermione made her way back to her table and began packing her books and materials up.
The halls of the castle were even more crowded now than they had been earlier. All around her students were making their ways down to the Great Hall for lunch and the walls of the castle echoed with chatter all about the student's classes and first days so far. Hermione followed a large group of Ravenclaws through the halls until they reached the Great Hall. As she made her way towards the Ravenclaw table she looked over towards the Slytherin table to see if she could find Marik there. No luck again, though, as it seemed that a large portion of the Slytherins were either still in class or just not in the Hall now.
She found a seat near the far end of the Ravenclaw table and without hesitation piled food onto her plate. She had built up quite the appetite in her first two classes and new if she wanted to make it through her next two alive she would need all the food she could get. The volume level in the Great Hall was much louder during lunchtime than it had been at breakfast. It was practically impossible to read in there and even more impossible to try and think clearly when your thoughts kept getting interrupted by the person sitting next to you's conversation.
Wanting to go read some more in preparation for her next class, which was dark arts, Hermione ate as quickly as she could before grabbing her bag again and heading off towards the second floor of the castle.
Dark arts was one of her classes where she had literally no idea what to expect. All she could tell from the book that they were assigned to buy was that they would learn some spells, some history, and little bits and pieces seemingly from all of the other subjects there were. Each chapter in the book seemed to jump from one random topic to another so the class was one of the ones she was most nervous about.
Thankfully the door to the class was unlocked and Hermione was able to grab a seat at the front of the classroom and read in peace for a while before the first few students scrambled in. It appeared that she would be in fact sharing most of her classes with the same students in each one. Only occasionally did there seem to be a new face sprout up. The class filled up quickly, most people seeming to be reenergized from eating a large lunch. After about ten more minutes of reading, a scrawny looking man with a turban on his head made his way into the classroom.
"M-my name is P-Professor Quirrell. I will b-be your professor f-for this class. Today we will be starting a l-lecture on gnomes t-that we w-will finish next class. W-who can tell me s-something about g-gnomes?" Professor Quirrell asked the class. Hermione found it hard to believe that someone who seemed this nervous could be an expert at anything defense related. Guess we will see. "Yes, y-you," Professor Quirrell said, pointing at a Hufflepuff girl in the back. Hermione recognized her as one of the girls that had been sitting at her table during potions.
"Gnomes are magical creatures that are known to infest the gardens of wizarding houses. They are usually shorter than a foot tall and brown in color and their saliva is supposedly useful for a small number of things," the girl answered with a grin, looking confident that she was correct.
"Very good! Three p-points to Hufflepuff. S-she hit the nail on the h-head! Gnomes are only k-known to have been f-f-found in Europe and North America, and are p-primarily found in locations that get a lot of r-rain. C-can anyone tell me w-why this is?" the professor asked the class again. Hermione remembered the answer to this question and raised her hand up high."Yes, y-you," the professor said, pointing at Hermione. She stood up and readied her answer.
"Gnomes live in areas that receive high amounts of rain because their skin dries out very quickly and requires high amounts of water to prevent it from doing so. Gnomes also make their homes in gardens, usually those with lots of potatoes, and most gardens tend to get a lot of rain or at least irrigation," Hermione answered the professor and quickly sat down after he nodded.
"Yes Yes, w-well done. Now I am s-sure a number of y-you are wondering w-why in a class labeled dark arts are you being l-lectured on gnomes. W-would anyone care to take a g-guess?" Professor Quirrell asked the class. The cogs turned inside Hermione's head but no answer came. Professor Quirrell was right, she was curious to know why gnomes, who seemed harmless, had something to do with the dark arts. Apparently, she wasn't the only one in class who had no clue as not a single hand was raised.
"While g-gnomes to most people m-may seem to be completely harmless c-creatures and in most cases they are, gnomes like m-many areas of magic can be used f-for darker intentions. In the first Great Wizarding War, the w-wizard Grindelwald utilized g-gnomes in his efforts to conquer Europe. Grindelwald allied h-himself with the g-gnome populations all across Europe and d-due to their harmless nature no one thought to look t-t-twice at them. This worked perfectly for Grindelwald's p-p-plans.
"As Miss G-granger told us a few moments ago g-gnomes are known to make their homes in gardens. I'm sure m-many of you who have grown up in w-wizarding households have come across one or two gnomes throughout your c-childhoods. Why is living in a g-garden important you ask? Can anyone tell m-me what languages gnomes are known to speak?" Professor Quirrell asked the classroom again. This time Hermione knew the answer and raised her hand again. "M-miss Granger," Professor Quirrell called on her after seeing that she was the only one with her hand up.
"Gnomes are known to be able to speak a rough dialect of the common tongue in the area they make their homes. So a gnome living in England would be able to speak a rough version of English. A gnome living in Germany would be able to speak a rough version of German. All gnomes are also able to speak gnomish," Hermione answered with a confident smile on her face.
"R-right you are, Miss Granger, three points to R-ravenclaw," Professor Quirrell said, making Hermione smile at not only having been the only one to know the answer but for also earning her house some points. "Now imagine the p-power one could achieve having practically every gnome in Europe under your c-control. What happens when a m-ministry worker talks too loudly in his house and a gnome overhears or w-when one of Grindelwald's enemies is t-trying to remain hidden and a gnome sees him? Because of the harmless g-gnomes Grindelwald essentially had one of the g-greatest systems of communication and spy networks in the w-world during the war.
"He was able to hear conversations many p-people thought were p-private. He was also able to communicate to areas being g-guarded against through his use of gnomes. Had the French Ministry of M-magic not found this out at the t-time they did during the war, slowing Grindelwald's rise to p-power may have been impossible and our world t-today may have been very different. So even s-something as unharmful as a g-garden g-gnome can be used by practitioners of the dark arts. So while gnomes themselves may be by no means a d-dark creature, the intent they were used for in this example makes them something p-potentially dark that we need to learn to d-defend against.
"This is what makes the d-dark arts so appealing to some and so frightful to others and this is why we n-need to learn about the dark arts. There is a q-quote from the famous wizard Machiavelli which says to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. This q-quote is the basis of how the d-dark arts class will work. To be able to d-defend yourself against p-practitioners of the dark arts you need to know what s-spells they use, what c-creatures you may come up against, and what artifacts may be dangerous. In a sense you have to b-be able think like a d-dark witch or wizard would and that is where this class c-comes in.
"B-before we can even begin to understand s-some of the ways in which dark wizards or witches tick, we need to first understand what in f-fact makes them dark. Who can tell me why we call this class dark arts, what makes it d-dark?" Professor Quirrell asked the class again. Much to her disappointment Hermione did not know the answer to this question. "Yes, y-you," Quirrell said, pointing to a Ravenclaw boy a few chairs down from Hermione.
"Because the magic they use is illegal," the Ravenclaw answered.
"Wrong. Anyone else want to t-take a stab at it?" Quirrell asked the class again. The Ravenclaw boy who had answered the question wrong sat down quickly, looking embarrassed at Quirrell's bluntness. "No one else? Very w-well then I will tell you.
"There are only currently four i-illegal spells to use in Britain. They are the t-three unforgivable curses as well as using the m-memory erase charm on another human. First off why are those f-four spells even illegal? And why is that there are m-many other spells that are considered dark but are not illegal? B-both questions have the same a-answer, and that is intent.
"Intent is everything in this class. Intent in m-magic is what separates those who fall under the category of d-dark practitioners from those who don't. W-which brings us back to the example of the gnome. The gnome is not dark. If it was I am sure that m-most of your families would be in trouble if the Ministry came to inspect your family's garden. However, the intent in which G-grindelwald used the gnomes during the w-war makes them fall under the umbrella of what can be considered the dark arts.
"Another example of this, and take n-note because this will be part of your homework, is the knockback jinx. The k-knockback jinx was one the first jinxes classified by the ministry to be a spell used by those in the dark arts. W-why is it then that it is not i-illegal and is a spell that is widely known and commonly used? A-again the answer to this is intent. The C-cult of the Dark Moon back in the f-fourteenth century used the knockback spell to throw their enemies off f-from the tops of a mountain as a way to make sacrifices for their many rituals.
"From this usage of the s-spell it is easy to see why many w-would consider the knockback jinx to be a dark spell. The spell doesn't always h-have to be used for intents as dark as this, though. For example again we can return to g-gnomes. Herb farmers all across Europe m-make use of the knockback jinx more than any other spell. When an herb farm is infested with g-gnomes and the crops are dying a farmer can use the knockback s-spell, which is highly effective at knocking out gnomes, to round up all the gnomes without k-killing or harming any creatures.
"So in this example, we can see the spell b-being used for good intentions. S-so during your time here at Hogwarts in this class you must always k-keep an open mind and understand that it most areas of magic the l-line in the sand that makes something dark is often g-grey and needs to be examined from all angles closely. We will learn m-many spells in this class that can be used for dark p-purposes. We will see many c-creatures, like the gnome, that can be used in ways to aid those in the dark. It is your job to use the s-spells and magic we learn here for the right intentions.
"Now for your homework. P-Professor Flitwick has made it c-clear to me that you should all be masters of the levitation spell by your next class with him. Therefore I feel c-confident that all of you will have an understanding on how spellcasting w-works by our next class as well. So I expect all of you to read the section on g-gnomes in your b-book if you have not already. I also expect each and every one of y-you to be able to cast the knockback j-jinx by our next class. Do not disappoint me. Class d-dismissed," Professor Quirrell announced and a few groans could be heard at the mention of them having homework.
Hermione gathered her materials into her bag and followed the slow moving group of students out of the classroom and into the once again crowded hallways of the castle.
The walk to her history of magic class was thankfully another short one. Unlike in the rest of her classes this time when she walked into the classroom she was not the first. Just like she always did she quickly made her way to the front of the classroom and found herself a seat in the front. When Hermione saw the teacher for the history of magic class it was hard not wonder if the man had been a part of most of what he would be teaching. Professor Binns looked like he had to be at least ninety years old if not older.
The amount of frustration Hermione had felt before this class was nothing compared to the frustration she was now feeling as the class slowly closed to an end. In potions class, it had appeared like she would not be that far behind everyone else. Even in charms, she had not seemed to be that far behind everyone else. In history of magic though it felt like she was years behind everyone else.
Professor Binns lectured the entire class on the origin of the Hogwarts castle. None of the information the professor lectured on had been in the book assigned to them and not a single one of the questions the professor asked the class did she know the answer too. That stupid Hufflepuff girl had known them all, though. The longer the class continued on the more Hermione's fear of being behind everyone else grew.
At the end of the class, she had written over six pages of notes on the lecture Professor Binns gave alone and felt still like she knew absolutely nothing. As the class was packing up to leave it took all the self-control she had in her not to cry as she overheard a few of her classmates say how easy the history of magic class had been for them. Hermione made a straight line for the nearest bathroom she could find following the history of magic class.
After making her way down two long hallways she finally stumbled across one and quickly ran to the nearest stall and slammed the door shut behind her. She tried to calm her breathing as she sat there, not wanting to actually cry.
She had known coming into Hogwarts that there was a chance she would be behind people and that there would be an even higher chance that she would not be the best student like she was used to being. She had even mentally prepared herself for the first day of classes and had come into today expecting it to be stressful and hard. Still, even with her mental preparations and her expectations she was finding it difficult to handle these new emotions.
She hated not knowing things, and when it came to magic even though she had read all of her books she still knew nothing. Even more than that she hated not being the best, and outside of in potions she had clearly not been the best. She was used to stressing but at the moment the stress was becoming too much as this entirely new world of magic seemed to be crashing down around her at an alarming pace. She would not let herself cry, though.
She was Hermione freaking Granger! If school got tough she would just get tougher. If she didn't know something she would go find a book and learn everything there was to know about it. She was not weak. Other people were weak, but she was not. She was always the best and in time things here would be no different. It was like Professor Flitwick said, she had all the resources available to her here she just had to use them.
She allowed herself thirty more seconds of feeling bad for herself before she wiped the water that had built in her eyes and slowed her breathing back to normal. She looked at her watch and saw that she had plenty of time left in the day.
Okay Hermione Granger, time to go kick some ass in the library and make today the last day that you let things get to you. You are a witch and it is time to put in the work so you can show the world how freaking could of a witch you have the potential to be. She internally shouted at herself.
With that, Hermione collected herself and made her way out of the bathroom. She had to walk against the crowds of students through the hall, most of whom were either walking back to their dorms to sleep or out to the grounds to relax, to get to the library. Once in the library she found herself a table, which was easy since most of them were empty, and went exploring through all of the many shelves until she found as many books as she could carry.
Once she was satisfied with her collection of books she opened up in the first one and set out on learning everything she could. She continued studying and researching like this for the rest of the day. She ignored the rumbling of her stomach once dinner time came around and she ignored the tiredness in her eyes that came about as the sky outside of the nearby windows darkened. Hermione Granger was on a mission, and she would not let anything slow her down.
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