Chapter 8

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. School has been really busy recently so I haven't had time to upload. However, I have changed the uploading dates from Monday/Tuesday to Saturday/Sunday as it is just easier for me to get chapters uploaded at the weekend. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

The first day back was a Wednesday, so Hermione went down to breakfast early to be ready in time for History of Magic. It was one of her least favorite lessons. It was incredibly boring, and the only thing Hermione managed to take from the class was that the Professor liked teaching about Goblin rebellions. The subject itself was fascinating but everybody seemed to just sleep through it. And she also hated that it was one of the two lessons she shared with Gryffindor.

Hermione, Mandy, and Lisa all sat together comparing notes whilst the ghost taught his lesson, and she could see the golden trio out of the corner of her eye whispering about something. Hermione knew they were up to something, but she just didn't know what soon they had to head off to potions whilst the Gryffindors headed to Herbology.

Neville and Hermione always worked together in potions due to Neville's lack of confidence but so far, he hadn't blown up a cauldron. Draco and his friends had told her all about one boy in Gryffindor always blowing up his cauldron, but Hermione couldn't remember said boy's name.

After lunch, the Ravenclaws shared a double defense against the dark arts lesson with Slytherin before supper. Hermione also wasn't fond of the subject as the professor was incompetent and seemed to fear everything despite what lesson he specialized in. His classroom always smelt of garlic for some reason. It was to keep away vampires but Hermione didn't know if she believed that story.

The Hufflepuffs had a free period last thing on a Wednesday, so Hermione found Neville, Hannah, and Susan in the library starting on their potion's homework. They spent about an hour in the library before it was time for supper. The Ravenclaw first years always ate supper quickly on the days that they had astronomy as they realized that it was a good idea to get some sleep before midnight as they didn't want to fall asleep on their telescopes.

Hermione woke up at about eleven pm which gave herself enough time to get ready for their midnight lesson. Hermione didn't have an opinion on astronomy as she was usually too tired to care, but, when she was younger, Hermione was obsessed with astronomy and the Malfoys had bought her a full stack of books about the subject for her eighth birthday present. Hermione had discovered her old collection of books over Christmas, and she started to become very interested in the subject once more. She was even more intrigued to compare wizarding astronomy to muggle astronomy.

The Ravenclaw first-years all followed one of the sixth-year prefects who took them to their lesson to not be stopped by a professor for roaming the halls after hours. They headed up to the astronomy tower and the Slytherins were already there. Hermione gave her friends an unnoticeable smile before heading to her telescope which was between Lisa and Hannah, when she arrived.

The lesson started shortly after when the other two houses arrived. Hermione was taking more attention than she usually would at midnight on a Wednesday. However, Hermione was beginning to find that wizarding astronomy was even more fascinating than muggle astronomy. Although they were only learning stuff Hermione had known for years, she was quickly regaining her passion for the subject that she had spent years obsessed with as a child.

The next few weeks passed quickly, in Hermione's opinion, and it was soon to be the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff quidditch match. She hadn't seen the first match of the year as Hermione wasn't very interested in the sport and didn't enjoy flying as she had a fear of heights. However, all her friends had convinced her to go to at least one match this year she decided this was the one to go to.

Hermione sat with Cho and Marrietta in the Ravenclaw quidditch stand as the game began. Cho told Hermione how she would like to try out for the team next year as the current seeker was a seventh year and it would be her favorite position to play.

Hermione quite enjoyed the match, and it was very fairly played. Hufflepuff won but only by about fifty points due to Ravenclaw's amazing chasers. Hermione ended up having a debate with the two-second years because she thought that the seekers had too much power over the game. She didn't agree that the snitch was worth so many points as it made the rest of the game useless but who was Hermione to complain? It was clear most of her friends enjoyed quidditch bar Neville who had a fear of flying after the disaster in their first flying lesson. She didn't blame him.

The workload was getting a lot harder as the year progressed as they were starting to steer away from introductions to the subjects and were beginning to learn more than a few basic spells. Hermione was quickly enjoying astronomy more and more as the lessons progressed. She was sad that they could only partake in the lesson every other week as it was becoming one of her favorites.

It was a few weeks before Easter when Hermione was asked to stay behind at the end of the astronomy lesson by Professor Sinistra. They had been studying Jupiter in said lesson and Hermione had been fascinated to learn about all the different moons whilst most of her yearmates were half asleep looking into their telescopes.

"Hello Hermione," the professor said after the other students had gone back to their common rooms.

"Hello professor, what did you want to talk to me about?" The Ravenclaw girl questioned.

"I've noticed over the last few months that you have a real interest in my subject, and you seem to be naturally talented in it. Most Hogwarts students don't enjoy astronomy and it is currently the subject with the least amount of N.E.W.T students. However, every so often I find somebody like you who just loves astronomy and is truly fascinated," the professor began, "Anyways, I have a club for these types of students, and it is very small, but everyone there truly enjoys this subject. I was wondering if you would like to join. We meet every Thursday just after supper and it is filled with like-minded astronomers such as yourself. I would enjoy it if you came along but you don't have to, you are a natural astronomer Miss Granger and you have so much potential," the astronomer professor smiled.

Hermione was very intrigued as she did love astronomy. She had always found the subject so fascinating from a young age and was happy that Professor Sinistra had noticed her obvious passion. She told the professor she would think about it before she headed back to her common room where Mandy was waiting to see why Hermione had been asked to stay behind.

The next day after they had been let out of potions by Professor Snape, Hermione told Neville, Hannah, and Susan about the club on their way to the lake. They told her to go and if she didn't like it, she didn't have to go again. Hermione said that she would and after supper, she headed up to the astronomy tower.

When Hermione got there, there were already a few students there. Hermione didn't know who they were, but she had seen them around the castle. Once everybody had arrived, Sinistra introduced Hermione to the other twelve members of the club. Hermione noticed that most of them were from Ravenclaw along with two Hufflepuff boys and one girl from Slytherin.

That day, they had been discussing their opinions on whether they believed the universe was infinite. It had been amazing for Hermione to speak to people who also shared her love for astronomy and was kind of sad when the club ended. She told the other members that she would be back next week and that she couldn't wait when they asked her.

Hermione was beginning to enjoy Hogwarts and finally felt like she was a part of something, but little did she know what was to happen the next day and all her problems would come running back to her.