September 3, 1997
As Hermione entered The Head's Common Room, she found Draco pulling his satchel onto his shoulder while chatting with his two best friends, Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott.
He looked over at her and nodded, "Good morning, Hermione."
"Good morning, Draco, Blaise…Theo." She said, not meeting Theo's eyes. "I erm…I'll see you three in The Great Hall." She said before quickly leaving to go to Breakfast.
Draco furrowed his brow while Blaise raised his and said, "Erm…so, is there any chance that Granger fancies Theo?"
Theo quickly shook his head, "Absolutely not." He said, glancing at the blond wizard with concern etched on his face.
Draco sighed, gripping the strap of his satchel, "We erm…we ought to head to breakfast." He said and left without another word.
The three Slytherins made their way to The Great Hall and sat down at their table. Draco purposefully kept his eyes averted from the Gryffindor Table so as not to catch Hermione's gaze.
As everyone in The Great Hall ate breakfast, the course schedules for the Fall term were distributed by the prefects. While waiting for her own schedule, Hermione glanced up toward the Professor table, spotting the Deputy Headmistress quietly speaking with the Headmaster.
"Hey Mione, are you okay?" The brunette heard Harry ask and turned to see both him and Ron watching her closely.
Hermione cleared her throat, and rubbed her forearm anxiously as she nodded, "Ye…yeah. I'm fine." She said before taking a bite of a piece of toast.
Ron looked at her, concerned and was about to speak when someone behind Hermione spoke up.
"Here are your course schedules." Katherine Brown, the girl Gryffindor Prefect said, passing out pieces of parchment to Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, and her older sister, Lavender.
"Thank you, Katherine." Hermione muttered while looking at her schedule.
After looking over her new schedule, Hermione slipped the parchment into her satchel. She returned to eating breakfast.
An owl flew into The Great Hall carrying a pale blue envelope and landed in front of Hermione's plate. She immediately knew it was from her parents…well…the Grangers. She swallowed and took the letter before the bird flew off, leaving to hunt for food.
She sighed and stared down at the envelope, not noticing that McGonagall was watching her with a sharp, intense gaze.
Opening the envelope, she pulled out the letter and began to read it.
Minnie,
We hope that your first few days back at Hogwarts have been lovely. Today will be your first day of classes and we know that you may be a bit anxious, but you'll do brilliantly…as always.
As Head Girl, you've got many important responsibilities, but while you must do your job, please do not forget about taking care of yourself. You tend to continually put others before yourself and your own needs despite how dire your needs may be.
To be utterly honest with you, Minnie, we're concerned about you. When we saw you at the train station, you appeared to be upset or bothered about something. You're our little girl, and we want to make sure that you're all right. Please let us know what it is that is bothering you.
We love you.
Have a lovely first day.
Love,
Mum and Dad
Hermione swallowed as she read the handwriting, she had known her entire life. Elizabeth Granger had an elegant, swirling scrawl that Hermione had always loved.
Ginny nudged the brunette as she sat down, joining the 7th years. "Are you all right?" she asked the older witch quietly.
Hermione glanced around before passing the letter to the 6th year witch.
Ginny read it before looking at the brunette, "How do you feel about it?"
Sighing, Hermione replied, "I'm thinking that despite not wanting to, I'm going to have to tell them what I found in the loft." she said quietly.
Ginny nodded, "That might be the best plan. I know it will be difficult, but I think you may be right to do it."
Just as Hermione was about to respond, Dumbledore announced that it was time for everyone to go to their first class of the day.
Hermione sighed and looked at Ginny, "I'll see you at lunch." She said as Ginny handed the letter back over to her.
Ginny nodded before watching Hermione get up and leave.
As the brunette made her way out of the castle and down toward the greenhouses, she heard someone shout her name. She turned and noticed Neville, rushing over to her.
"Hey Hermione. Are you going to Herbology or Care of Magical Creatures?" He asked.
"Herbology. How about you?" she asked in response.
He nodded, "Herbology."
She nodded, "It's in Greenhouse #7, correct?" she asked while searching in her satchel for her schedule.
"Yes." Neville said just as she found it.
The two of them walked over to the Greenhouse #7 and stepped inside.
After Herbology ended, Hermione and Neville made their way back up to The Great Hall for Apparition with Professor Black. When they entered The Great Hall, they found that the space had been transformed for the class.
There were several 7th year students in the room, chatting amongst themselves.
"All right, class!" Professor Sirius Black said getting the attention of all the students. "Welcome back! Today in Apparition, we're going to focus on Side-Apparating. You'll be partnered up so that you can practice together."
"Each pair of you will be assigned a color of hoops." He continued. "For instance, if you are assigned the red hoops, you will need to Side-Disapparate from one red hoop, Side-Apparating into the other red hoop. Be sure to take turns being the one who does the Apparating. Before you ask, I have already assigned partners and the names are hanging on the board over there." Professor Black said, indicating the board beside the entrance.
Several of the students rushed over to the board to find out who their partner was. Hermione, however, waited for a moment to see if any of those students walked over to her and soon enough, someone did.
"Granger…" She heard, cringing at the name.
She turned to see none other than Theodore Nott standing there, staring at her.
"Please…call me 'Hermione'." She said.
Furrowing his brow, Theo swallowed before nodding, "Oh…okay. Erm…well, it appears that we're partners in this class."
She nodded, "What color hoop was assigned to us?"
"Purple." He replied.
Over the next hour, the pair of them practiced in silence while holding hands. They took turns being the one to Apparate them.
As they practiced, Hermione noticed that Blaize Zabini continually looked over in their direction, smirking. She wasn't certain why and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"Okay! You've all done brilliantly this morning!" Professor Black said. "Now, due to the timing of our class, as well as the fact that we're in The Great Hall, we'll need to end class a touch early. I must reset The Great Hall for lunch." He explained. "I will see you all again on Friday. Have a great week!"
Hermione and the other students quickly gathered their belongings before leaving The Great Hall. They all waited in the nearby corridor, chatting amongst themselves.
It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon when lunch ended, and Hermione and Ginny made their way to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class together.
Stepping into the classroom, Hermione sighed when she spotted Draco, Theo, and Blaise.
"Come on." Ginny said, pulling her in the opposite direction of where the three Slytherins were sitting.
The two witches sat down at a nearby table and spoke quietly to one another.
"Draco…" Blaise said, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." The blond wizard replied.
Theo looked over at Draco with furrowed brows, "She does appear to be rather stressed." He whispered as Blaise spoke quietly to Julianna Nott.
Draco nodded, "I know. I'm concerned."
"I can tell." Theo replied. "But honestly, mate, I don't believe that she fancies me like Blaise insinuated earlier."
Draco sighed and scratched his jaw before glancing over at Hermione and catching her eye. He looked away after a moment before quietly speaking to Theo, "I'm truly concerned about her."
Theo nodded as Professor Remus Lupin stepped out of his office and into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"Hello class. Today we're going to discuss some of the most difficult Defensive Charms." Professor Lupin said before beginning the lesson.
Hermione felt as if that class sped by, and the day was nearly over. She made her way down to the Dungeons with Ginny, Draco, and Blaise for their Potions course.
They walked in silence and arrived to find a locked door. While waiting, more students began to arrive along with one of Ginny's fellow 6th year friends, named Chloe Willburn.
"Mione, you remember Chloe Willburn, don't you?" Ginny asked the brunette.
"Of course." Hermione replied with a kind smile despite her mind being elsewhere.
While Ginny and Chloe chatted, Hermione read through her Potions textbook.
When the door to Dungeon Classroom creaked open, the class stepped inside and lined up along the back wall of the dark room.
"I've assigned each of you a partner and a worktable." Professor Snape said in his usual, disinterested tone. "On the wall behind you is a board with the list of assigned partners and worktable numbers. Take the next few minutes to find where you've been assigned to as well as who you'll be working with for the rest of the term."
Hermione was standing directly in front of the list. She simply turned around and looked for her name. She found that she was working at worktable #5 and that her partner was the Head Boy. She walked over to the worktable and took a seat, waiting for her partner to join her and for class to begin.
Draco sat down on the stool beside Hermione's and pulled out his Potions textbook.
"So, have you had a good first day of classes?" He asked her quietly before looking over at her.
She turned her head and met his grey eyes before nodding, "Ye…erm…yes. Yes, I have. Have you?"
He nodded and replied, "It's been a gentle reminder that I've still got plenty to learn before graduating." He said with a playful smirk on his lips.
She huffed, "Don't I know it." She muttered before Snape cleared his throat, catching the attention of the entire class.
"Now, today will not be too difficult. That is, only if you've been paying attention during the past five or six years of your schooling." He said dryly.
When class ended, the far side of the room stunk dreadfully due to some students' lack of listening to instructions. Meanwhile, the rest of the class appeared to have understood the instructions and ended up with Felix Felicis in their cauldrons.
"Go ahead and put your potions in vials. Label them with the potion name, as well as both of your names and the date. Bring the vial up here and place them on my desk. Clean up your worktable, then you may all leave for the day." Professor Snape instructed them before going to sit at his desk.
"So, are you headed to dinner?" Draco asked Hermione as they left the classroom.
The brunette swallowed ad shook her head as she looked at her wristwatch. "No, I erm…I have somewhere to be."
The wizard furrowed his brow in confusion, "Oh erm…all right. I'll see you later in the Head Common Room."
She nodded and walked away.
He watched as she walked up the staircase and sighed.
"Is everything all right?" Blaise asked from Draco's side.
The blond wizard nodded and walked up the stairs to head to The Great Hall for dinner.
Hermione made her way to the Transfiguration classroom. When she arrived, she found the Deputy Headmistress speaking with a 5th year student.
McGonagall noticed Hermione standing by the door and turned back to the younger student, "We will finish this discussion on Wednesday, during class."
The student nodded with a sigh and left, looking dejected.
The Transfiguration Professor walked over to her desk and picked up a small piece of parchment. She read the parchment before exhaling and turning toward Hermione. She waved her hand, shutting and locking the classroom door before looking straight at the Head Girl.
"Please have a seat." McGonagall said, indicating the chair next to her desk.
Hermione nodded and sat down in the chair while setting the satchel at her feet.
"So…how have you been?" The Professor asked.
Hermione sighed and replied, "Well, erm…to be honest, I've been rather stressed as of late." she answered bluntly.
McGonagall nodded, knowingly before speaking quietly, "Yes…I've noticed."
Hermione's head snapped in her direction, "You have?"
"Yes." The Professor said, "I've noticed quite a bit and I feel that the time has come for you to know the whole truth…about who you are and where you came from."