Hermione found that Voyages with Vampires wasn't the book she expected. It read more like a novel than any other textbook she'd had. Aside from the other Lockheart books. She'd already read the rest of them.
When Harry and Ron came down she focused more on the book. A terse "morning" was all she said. She didn't want to rant to the boys again. It wasn't the best feeling, but she hadn't quite forgiven them for being so stupid.
She had just about finished the book when the mail came. Her parents had written her a rather lengthy letter which she decided she was going to finish later and tucked it into her bag. She suspected that part of it was another letter from Viktor, but she wasn't about to open that at breakfast. She already had something to read.
The room suddenly exploded in sound. Mrs. Weasley's voice rang out berating Ronald for his decision. Hermione couldn't help but feel a smug satisfaction. She tried to stamp it out but it persisted, burning like a little flame.
The book finished, she put it down and sighed. "I don't know what you expected Ronald,"
"Don't tell me that I deserved it," he snapped.
She shrugged and put her book into her bag. Viktor had enchanted it over the summer so that it wasn't as heavy as it should be. She would have to thank him again for that. It was only the first day and she was already trying to pack everything but the sink into her bag again.
Schedules were quickly dispersed and Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed off to the greenhouses. Hermione was quieter, but did her best to seem friendly and not angry. They'd been scolded and had received a public humiliation. She didn't need to add anything to that.
Harry was called out by Lockheart. Hermione shoved down a stab of jealousy. She wanted to be singled out by a man who made educational books fun. She had so many questions for him. She also liked being the favourite and wasn't happy about that being taken from her.
"We'll be in greenhouse three today," Professor Sprout called out.
There was a collective excitement that flooded through the students. The Gryffindors were excited to deal with more dangerous plants. The Hufflepuffs were just excited that Professor Sprout trusted them enough to let them do more.
Hermione answered questions and then they were all quiet as they repotted mandrakes. Well, they might not have been that quiet but no one could hear them. She herself was muttering instructions to herself and was grateful that no one could hear her.
Things were rather similar to their first year in transfiguration. And things were going smoothly for the most part until lunch.
Hermione was reading the letter from her parents. Harry found himself being photographed by a younger student. Which started an altercation with Malfoy. Not the best moment of Hermione's life. It certainly wasn't as bad as it could have been, but it could have been much better.
Thankfully it was over about as quickly as it began. They hurried into defense against the dark arts and were met with a quiz. It was an easy quiz, as it was all about the illustrious Mr. Lockhart himself. Hermione was grateful that she could recall written details well enough that she finished the quiz with ample time to spare.
She pulled out a spare piece of paper and started outlining her thoughts to her parents. Especially her thoughts about the new teacher. And she was glad that she could do it in Greek so that he wouldn't know what she said. She could tell that there wasn't much substance to his words.
When she got full marks she found herself flushing. She enjoyed the praise but wasn't thrilled about the way that Mr. Lockhart made it all about himself yet again. As if that wasn't what the quiz was about.
Then there was the unveiling of Cornish pixies. Which turned into pandemonium. Thankfully they were able to get some help from one of the fifth or sixth years who passed by after Lockhart had essentially run off.
"He's got no idea what he's doing," Ron said.
"You read the books, look at the stuff he's done," Hermione said. She was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"He says he's done," Ron retorted.
Hermione found she couldn't argue with that. There didn't seem to be much proof beyond his word. And his actions in class didn't seem to indicate that he was as competent as he claimed to be.
She muttered to herself in Greek as she headed to the library to do some homework. It wasn't the day she'd anticipated, and she couldn't find it in herself to even try and predict what the rest of the year would be like. She hoped that nothing would go too wrong. Though with the events of the end of the previous year, she wasn't sure.
"What's that?" one of the Weasley twins asked over her shoulder.
"The letter to my parents? Or my homework?" Hermione asked sarcastically.
"Is this some sort of code?" the other twin asked.
"It's Greek," Hermione said. "You'd think that you didn't know what that looked like."
"We don't," they chorused.
"Could you teach us?" one of them asked. Hermione didn't have enough experience to be able to tell them apart on sight.
"I'm not good at that," Hermione said. "I mean, I've spoken it my whole life. I wouldn't even know where to start."
They frowned. "Can you tell us the swear words?"
Hermione smirked. "Not going to do that until you can say hello correctly. Which we won't be doing today. I've still got work to do."
They hurried off, presumably to pester someone into helping them with learning swear words in other languages. Hermione had to chuckle. She didn't actually know all that many Greek swears. Her parents mostly used English expletives.
She worked for a bit longer and then mailed her letters off right before supper. Hopefully the year would be good.
A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait you guys. I've been chipping away at this for a while. It felt like pulling teeth to get it out. But still.