2nd September 1976
The following morning Hermione's stomach was in knots. She thought that after she saw everyone for the first time, and had a good night's sleep, it would have calmed her nerves. She could not have been more wrong. Her mind raced as she thought of the day ahead of her – Which courses should she take? Who would be in them? How long should she wait before she spoke to Snape again? Would Sirius continue to bother her? How should she handle it? Had she made a mistake by befriending Amelia so quickly? Should she distance herself before she possibly does any damage? All of those seemingly unanswerable questions ran through her head.
She and Amelia sat together during breakfast at the Ravenclaw table; Hermione with an untouched plate of food, growing cold, in front of her. Absentmindedly she glanced over at the Gryffindor table and saw James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all with their heads together, looking down at something. It was obvious from their mannerisms that they were up to something secretive and, most likely, a bit of trouble. As she had her eyes fixed on the boys, not really focused on them, Sirius looked up. He caught Hermione looking over and flashed her a wide smile and a wink. She quickly looked away. Amelia nudged her with her elbow.
"Are you alright, Hermione?" she asked, a bit of egg dangled from her fork.
Hermione grabbed a piece of toast and began to butter it. "Yes," she said quickly, then her shoulders slumped. "Well – no. I suppose I am a bit nervous about my first day," she admitted.
She found it strangely easy to be honest with Amelia. Well, as honest as she could have been.
Amelia swallowed her food and smiled reassuringly at her. "It is pretty overwhelming your first time here. But you'll adjust quickly. Promise."
Hermione gave her a tight smile in response and took a bite of her toast. She knew that would be all she would eat that morning.
A few moments later Rita, Alice and Dorcas all sat down across from the two girls, and began to load up their plates. Hermione and Amelia greeted them as Rita started to eye Hermione, once again, with that hungry curiosity.
"So," she began. "You're Dumbledore's niece, eh?" Rita asked as if interviewing Hermione.
And so began the inquisition. Hermione exhaled loudly.
"Yes," she answered, as her eyes remained on her plate.
Alice and Dorcas giggled.
"That must be so – so… weird," Alice said.
Dorcas' head bobbed enthusiastically, it seemed that she agreed.
Hermione looked up at them; a crease formed between her eyebrows.
"Why? My uncle is an amazing man. I don't see anything weird about it at all," she responded a bit heatedly.
The two girls laughed more at her response and Rita smiled condescendingly at her.
"Of course he is, Hermione," she said.
Amelia looked at her from the side of her eye, shrugged and shook her head lightly. Hermione rolled her eyes.
She continued picking apart her toast as the girls gossiped and caught up on the latest scandals that supposedly happened over the summer holiday. She couldn't concentrate on a word they said.
She peered over her shoulder, at the Slytherin table, and noticed Snape had not yet arrived; a wave of disappointment washed over her as she turned back around. She was hoping to speak to him, to let him know that she was not mental, just new there and wanted to offer help to someone who looked like they needed it. While she rehearsed her conversation with him in her head, a familiar squeaky voice pulled her back into the present.
"Miss Devereux?" A young Professor Flitwick stood behind her and smiled brightly.
Hermione could not believe just how young he looked. If she had to have guessed, she would have assumed he was only teaching a few years at that point. He was still tiny as ever with dark, brown hair, not a grey in sight, and the crows-feet around his blue eyes were missing.
"Y-Yes. That's me," she answered softly.
"I'm Professor Flitwick, Miss Devereux. I'll be your head of house," he introduced himself cheerfully.
Having Flitwick as her head of house, was another thing that Hermione had a hard time wrapping her head around – after six years of having McGonagall.
"Pleasure to meet you, sir," she smiled.
Flitwick looked down at a stack of parchment he was holding. "I was wondering if I may have a brief word with you. We need to discuss which courses you will be taking this term."
"Of course, Professor."
Hermione picked up her bag, told Amelia she would see her after breakfast and followed Professor Flitwick out into the corridor.
He shuffled through the parchment in his hands and muttered softly. "Devereux? Devereux? Devereux…? Ah! Here we are."
Hermione looked down at Flitwick in shock as he read over whatever fabricated information Dumbledore must have passed off about her.
"Professor Dumbledore has kindly given me your transcripts from your mother – from your homeschooling," he informed her.
Even though she should not have been amazed, she was. Her eyes widened the tiniest amount while she wondered what else Dumbledore might have forged. She wouldn't have been surprised if she had a fake birth certificate somewhere as well.
"Oh. That's good," she mumbled. She did not know how else to respond.
She watched Flitwick's eyes as they scanned over her falsified grades and waited for him to speak.
"Your marks have all been extraordinary, Miss Devereux. Very good. Very good, indeed," he praised her.
Hermione sneaked a look at the paper Flitwick was reading over, and she almost choked when she noticed they weren't false grades, but her actual grades from Hogwarts, up until the time her Fifth Year. Only the names of the professors have been removed, and the dates have been altered.
Dumbledore truly thought of everything, didn't he, she thought to herself as she attempted to get the shocked expression off her face.
"Thank you, sir," Hermione breathed out in response.
He shuffled the papers around a bit more, and pulled out one that Hermione saw was blank.
"Well. You may choose to move on with whichever subjects you would like," he smiled.
Should she have taken on a full course load? Or should she, perhaps, have taken it a bit easy while she was there? Hermione overworked herself for the entirety of her education, and her schooling was not the reason she was at Hogwarts currently, so maybe she should have taken a lighter load. But she was afraid that if she had too much free time, she might have tempted to do something stupid. Maybe the busier she kept, the less chance she would have had of seriously putting the future at risk.
"Miss Devereux?" Flitwick pressed.
Hermione snapped herself out of it.
"Sorry, Professor," she quickly apologized. "I think I will go on with Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Potions and Transfiguration. If – If that's alright?" she asked uncertainly.
Flitwick tapped his wand to the blank piece of parchment and Hermione watched her schedule appear.
"Yes, Miss Devereux. That is perfectly fine."
Before he handed it to her, he turned it over and tapped his wand to it once more. Hermione saw black ink spidered out and formed a small map of Hogwarts. The routes to her classes were highlighted in red.
"Here you are." Flitwick handed the parchment over to Hermione. "This is your time-table. I had also taken the liberty of putting a map of the school on the back of it for you," he smiled. "The easiest routes to your classes are marked in red."
Although she already knew how to get to each of those classrooms – and knew better shortcuts – she couldn't help but be touched by this kind gesture.
"Thank you, Professor. That was very kind of you," she said; her voice grew thick.
He patted Hermione on the elbow and started to walk back towards the Great Hall with Hermione alongside him.
"Now if you have any trouble, or need help with anything, have one of your housemates show you to my office. I would be more than happy to help with whatever I could," he told her as they reached the entrance.
"I will, sir. Thank you again."
Flitwick wished her luck and made his way towards the staff table. Hermione remained behind, in the doorway, and looked over her time table to see which classes she would have that day.
It looked like Transfiguration with the Gryffindors would be first that day. Lovely, she thought. Then was Arithmancy, a free period, lunch and then, her heart dropped. Potions… Well. He'd definitely –
Suddenly she stumbled forward as someone crashed into the back of her and she heard books fall to the ground.
"Oh! I'm so sor-" she immediately stopped speaking as she turned around and saw who was glaring at her.
Of course… she thought sourly.
Snape took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "What are you doing - blocking the doorway like that?" he growled.
Hermione automatically took a step back. As much as she did not want to admit it, the young Severus Snape intimidated her as much as the older Professor Snape had.
"I – I was just – I'm sorry," she stammered.
Her heart was pounding. So far, her first encounters with him had not gone well at all.
He exhaled loudly as Hermione dropped down to the ground and hastily collected his books. Snape did not help her. She looked up and saw he was staring down at her in complete disbelief. His eyebrows met his hairline and his mouth was slightly agape. She quickly looked back down, stacked his books, stood up and held them out for him.
"Here you are. Again, I'm sorry about that," she said quickly.
Very slowly, Snape took them from her. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. Hermione felt her face heat up.
"We – er – we have to stop meeting this way," she joked lamely with an uncomfortable laugh. His brow furrowed.
We have to stop meeting this way? She internally groaned at her lame attempt at a joke. This was not helping the whole he-thought-she-was-a-nutter situation.
She shuffled her feet nervously and was at a loss for words. Snape cleared his throat.
"Why did you keep staring at me last night?" he asked bluntly.
Hermione was taken aback. She had no idea what to tell him. She certainly couldn't tell him the truth.
"I – um – I – I was?" She kept her eyes wide and innocent.
Smooth, she thought.
Snape snorted angrily.
"I saw you with Black. Is he putting you up to something?" he accused her heatedly. His pale face gained a bit of color.
Hermione made a horrible mistake; she laughed. It was completely absurd to her that he would have come to that conclusion.
"I'm sorry, but… what?"
He was off his rocker!
He took a step towards her which caused Hermione to take a step back. There was true anger in his eyes.
"You just stay away from me," he hissed and pushed past her.
She was completely flabbergasted as she stood and watched him hurry to the Slytherin table. She was routed to the spot and still had her eyes on Snape – who, it seemed, actively tried not to look back at her – when she felt an arm around her shoulder; she jumped.
"Oh!"
"Sorry, Devereux. Didn't mean to scare you," Sirius smirked.
After what Snape and just accused, it could not have possibly been a worse time for Sirius to try chatting her up.
Hermione jerked away from him and glared. "What do you want, Black?" she snapped.
Sirius took a step back and put his two hands up; palms forward.
"Hey, easy there. It looked like you were having some trouble with dear old Snape, and I thought I'd come over to see if you needed my assistance," he said with a wicked gleam in his eye.
Hermione huffed, took a step towards him and jammed her finger in his chest. "I do not need a knight in shining armor, Black!" she hissed.
Sirius took a quick step back and his mouth popped open in shock. He looked hurt, but Hermione couldn't have bothered being concerned with that. Even under normal circumstances, she hated being treated as some sort of ridiculous damsel in distress.
She did not realize that everyone had been watching her exchange with Sirius until she heard the deafening silence and a piece of silverware fall to the floor.
Hermione felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment, and she slowly turned her head towards the students in the hall, when loud laughter erupted throughout the four tables. She threw a panicked look towards Amelia, took a quick glance at Snape, and then stormed out of the Great Hall. Great. Now everyone would think she was a complete nutter.
As she marched down the hallway and calmed a bit, she began to feel somewhat badly about snapping at Sirius that way. There was no way he could have known of what was just said between her and Snape. She thought of the hurt and bewildered expression on his face and began to feel worse.
She also happened to catch Snape's look of utter disbelief before she walked off. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his jaw dropped. She hoped that little scene with Sirius cleared any thoughts of her plotting something with him from Snape's head.
Why would he have entertained that thought? Was it really that hard for him to believe that someone was genuinely being friendly towards him? How horribly did he have it there?
"Hermione!" Amelia called out from down the hall.
She stopped and turned around to wait as Amelia ran to catch up to her.
"Hey Amelia," Hermione said when she reached her.
"Hey. What was that all about?" she asked as they reached the entrance to the Transfiguration classroom.
They were early, the door was locked, so the girls leaned against the wall to wait for Professor McGonagall to arrive and let them in. Hermione still had not answered Amelia's question.
"Well?" she pressed.
Hermione took in a breath. "I was standing in the doorway, looking over my time-table and Snape knocked into me. His books went everywhere, again. I gathered them for him and then he became a bit short with me," she explained.
"You're not having very good luck with him, are you?" Amelia asked while she attempted to stifle a smile.
Hermione shook her head softly. "Nope."
Loud voices accompanied with laughter traveled down the hallway. Hermione looked down towards the source of the noise and tension filled her body. It was James, Sirius, Remus and Peter coming their way. Bloody fantastic.
"What happened with Black?" Amelia asked quietly as she noticed the boys arriving as well.
Hermione turned her head and checked to make sure they were still far enough away. "He thought he would come save me from big bad Snape," she whispered quickly. "I told him to bugger off and left. I'm not interested."
Amelia looked at Hermione with something close to wonder. "You're certainly in the minority there, Hermione. Most girls here would kill to have him pursue them."
"Well, I'm not like most girls then," Hermione laughed. "Plus, like I've said, I'm not here to date. Not just him, but anyone."
The boys came nearer which caused Hermione's pulse to accelerate even more. She was about to possibly have her first encounters with James and Remus. She tugged on Amelia's sleeve and dragged her closer to the door, hoping they would leave them alone.
She heard James' voice. She knew it was James because he sounded so much like Harry. It made her stomach flip and the color drained from her face.
"Oi, Sirius? Isn't that the bird who actually has the sense to turn you down?" he joked loudly.
"Oh, she'll come around," Sirius answered smugly.
Amelia rolled her eyes and looked at Hermione who stood frozen. She still could not get over just how much he and Harry sounded alike.
"Hermione? Are you ok? You look like you're going to be sick," Amelia asked in alarm.
"No. No, I'm fine," she lied.
Don't let them come over. Please don't let them come over, she pleaded in her head.
"I think I'll go and introduce myself," James announced.
Shit… Ok. Breathe, she told herself.
"Oh for the love of…" Hermione heard Amelia mutter.
Hermione turned around and watched James duck as Sirius attempted to hit him, and then he walked towards her. She felt like her heart was beating in her throat. James strutted over with a wide smile; Sirius glowered behind him. Remus and Peter were laughing quietly.
"Hello there!" he greeted her.
It was inevitable that she would have spoken to him at some point. She needed to pull herself together.
"Hi," she said shyly.
"James Potter. Devereux, right?" he said and stuck his hand out; Hermione nodded. "I just thought I would come over and congratulate you."
She returned his handshake and raised her eyebrow.
"Congratulate me?" she asked in confusion.
"For knocking Sirius down a peg. It's about time someone did," he chuckled.
Hermione's eyes went wide. She did not know how to respond.
"Oi!" Sirius yelled.
James turned around. "Shut it, Pads." He brought his attention back towards Hermione. "Don't be too hard on him though. He's relatively harmless," he winked.
"O-Okay," Hermione mumbled and began to fidget.
"Alright Potter. Leave her alone, would you? It's only her first day, which I'm sure is hard enough without you lot bothering her," Amelia scolded.
James looked like he had just noticed Amelia was there and smiled brightly. "Hey Bones. Good summer?"
Hermione was, once again, extremely grateful towards Amelia for getting her out of an overwhelming situation with people she had known to be dead in her time. Maybe it wasn't so bad for her to accept her friendship after all.
"Yeah, just ducky. Thanks," she replied dryly and crossed her arms. "Now would you please just leave her be?"
As James opened his mouth to make a retort, Professor McGonagall arrived. Hermione let out a sigh of relief at the sight of her. Even though, at this point, Hermione was expecting it, the younger version of her Transfiguration professor was another shock for her. Her tight bun was jet black, the lines around her eyes were still there, but much less prominent and her lips were a bit more full in her youth.
At the sight of McGonagall, James sank back with his group and left Hermione and Amelia alone. She opened the door for the students and they filed into the classroom. The two girls grabbed a seat right in the front of the classroom together while the four boys filled the seats all the way in the back. Hermione felt relieved that she would not be near them during class.
"Aren't they just a lovely bunch?" Amelia jerked her head back towards Sirius, James, Remus and Peter. "Well," she added quickly, "Lupin isn't so bad. He's a Prefect, and kind of quiet actually. I don't know how he got mixed up with those guys, to be honest."
Hermione noticed, as she spoke about Remus, a slight blush appeared on Amelia's cheeks and couldn't help but wonder if she had a bit of a crush on him. If she did, Hermione thought it rather sweet.
Maybe she could have tried to get them together, she thought. No, she couldn't, she quickly reminded herself. She was pretty sure that would have fallen under the category of 'meddling.'
"They're a bit much," Hermione shrugged. "But they seem pretty harmless. Just your typical teenage boys."
She reached for her bag, pulled out her book, a quill, ink and some parchment and waited for class to begin. Soon all of the seats were filled, Edgar and Otto sat behind Hermione and Amelia, Alice and Dorcas sat across from the girls and Rita and Sturgis sat behind them.
"Alright, Hermione?" Edgar asked as he sat down.
Hermione turned around and offered a smile at the two boys. "Alright. You?"
"Excellent. I saw you knock Snape down this morning. What did he do?" Edgar laughed and Otto joined in.
"I didn't knock him down!" she quickly denied. "He ran into me. It was an accident."
The two boys completely ignored that. "And then you attacked Black. I think you're my new favorite person," Otto smiled widely.
Even though it was completely ridiculous, Hermione couldn't help it and laughed softly. Otto was just one of those people who had a very infectious smile. You couldn't help but smile back.
"Alright, settle down," McGonagall called out. Hermione immediately turned around and focused her attention to the front of the room.
Her first Transfiguration lesson went quite the same as it did in her original Sixth Year. McGonagall spoke briefly about their N.E. , explained how they would be required to do work with non-verbal spells and they began learning and practicing Conjuring spells. Being that she had already done it, Hermione was the first student who managed to conjure a fluffy white rabbit onto her desk.
Amelia looked over with her mouth wide. "How – How did you manage that so quickly?" she whispered.
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. I – I just did it?"
"Excellent job, Miss Devereux. Ten points to Ravenclaw," McGonagall smiled at her.
Hermione beamed back at her. She couldn't help it and had that familiar feeling of satisfaction and happiness that came along with the approval of her professors and with, even though she had never admitted it out loud, the jealous looks that her classmates had on their faces. A part of her truly did revel in being the first to accomplish a task in her classes.
By the end of the class most of the students had managed to conjure something, rabbits, toads, or ravens. Those who did not were told to practice for homework, those who did had none. Hermione put her things back in her bag, stood up and waited for Amelia to collect her things.
"What do you have next, Amelia?" she asked.
"Muggle Studies."
Her answer was muffled due to the fact that she was bent over stuffing a book into her bag.
Hermione felt disappointed that she would be attending her next class on her own. She was beginning to cling to Amelia like a life preserver since she had helped her out of so many uncomfortable situations. Her brow furrowed and her lips puckered.
"Oh," Hermione said sadly. "I have Arithmancy."
"Did I hear someone else is actually taking Arithmancy?" Sturgis said from behind her.
Hermione knew that was not exactly a popular class and was grateful that it looked like she would have at least one familiar face in there with her.
"I am. You're taking that as well?" she asked happily.
He nodded. "Yep."
"Oh good. Sturgis can show you the way then," Amelia said as she stood up and hoisted her bag over her shoulder. She looked a bit frazzled. "I better run. I don't want to be late." She eyed Hermione carefully. "You'll be alright?"
She reassured Amelia that she would be perfectly fine and Amelia quickly rushed off towards her next class.
"Shall we then?" Sturgis asked.
Hermione and Sturgis walked together to Arithmancy with the awkward small talk which happened between two people who had just met. He asked her what she had thought of Hogwarts so far, if she preferred it to being homeschooled and what she thought of the students. She answered the best that she could.
When they arrived at the classroom, Sturgis asked if Hermione would wish to sit with him for the class, as they would be the only two Ravenclaws continuing on with the subject. She agreed and they took a seat in the middle of the classroom. At that point there were only two other students in the class; two Hufflepuffs she did not recognize. After a few more moments she heard others enter and turned around to see who it was.
Everyone had been right, hadn't they, she realized when she found herself staring at an exact copy of Harry's eyes. Lily was walking into the classroom with Remus. She swallowed loudly.
Lily and Remus walked past her and Sturgis, laughing. Hermione gawked at Lily. She was stunning. Lily had long auburn hair, large, sparkling green eyes, a pale, clear complexion and rosy cheeks that most girls would have traded their soul for. As they sat down in their seats, Hermione heard bits of their conversation.
"-can't Rem. He's just – just… an arse!"
Remus chuckled softly and shook his head. "I know Lils, but he's nowhere near as bad as he used to be. Really, what would be the harm in one date? You'd finally shut him up."
Ahh. They must have been talking about James, she assumed. Harry had told her how his mother wasn't exactly fond of his father for quite some time during their school years.
Hermione was fascinated and continued to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Not happening. So you can tell James you've tried, but you couldn't talk me into it," she said knowingly.
"He – he didn't. He didn't ask me to talk to you," Remus stuttered.
Lily let out a loud laugh. "Sure he didn't."
Hermione tried to stifle her laugh, so they didn't know she was listening to them and bent down to collect her books. When she sat back up she saw that Sturgis was chatting up a pretty blonde – one of the Hufflepuffs, and then she felt someone walk by her. When she looked to see who it was, once again, she was blown away by a younger version of one of her former professors. She thought at this point she would have been used to it, but as she saw each of them, she was just as captivated each time.
Professor Vector greeted the students, had them open their books and began to give a lecture. Hermione scribbled across her parchment vigorously as she took her notes. She knew she really didn't have to be as thorough as she normally would have been, but the habit of being an over-zealous student was etched far too deeply at that point in her life.
When class was dismissed, Hermione stretched out the cramp in her hand and put her things away. She heard Remus tell Lily he would see her later and then she jumped when someone said her name.
"Hermione Devereux, right?"
Hermione looked up slowly; it was Lily.
"Yes, that's me." She tried to give the most natural smile that she could.
This was the most nervous she had been yet. All of the stories she had heard of Lily Potter, what sort of person she had been, and how she had sacrificed her own life for her own son, made her seem like some sort of otherworldly hero. Like a myth, more than an actual human being.
But right then, she was just a student, just like Hermione, she realized, as Lily smiled warmly at her.
"Hello. I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Lily Evans," she said kindly.
"It's lovely to meet you," Hermione responded in a high pitched voice.
She needed to calm herself.
"Nice to meet you, too. How are you finding Hogwarts so far?" she asked.
Overwhelming. Heartbreaking. Confusing. Terrifying.
"It seems really great. Everyone has been very nice."
"That's good to hear," Lily smiled. "Well I know that you probably will have friends in your own house, but if you need anything, I would be more than happy to help," she offered.
Hermione realized that people had not exaggerated. Lily truly was a genuinely kind and warm person. Even in the thirty seconds they had spoken, Hermione felt very comfortable with her. It seemed that Lily just had that way about her.
"Thank you, Lily. That is very kind of you," Hermione said.
"I don't want to seem rude, but I really must be heading off to my next lesson. Again, it was a pleasure meeting you. I hope you like it here!"
As Lily pulled her bag onto her shoulder, Hermione thanked her once more. Hermione then noticed that she was left alone in the classroom, Sturgis must have taken off without her. She assumed he chased down that Hufflepuff he was flirting with.
She was glad for the moment of peace, and took a moment to pull out her time-table. She saw that she had a free hour before lunch and was more than grateful. She needed a bit of time alone and decided she would spend that free time out in the grounds having a walk. She needed to mentally prepare herself before her first lesson with Snape.