Hermione was nervous. She had already spent a few hours with her headmaster in Diagon Alley, but there was a mysterious aura around the Hogwarts headmaster that Hermione could not interpret. She had woken up far too early on Saturday and had even been at breakfast in the Great Hall before Professor McGonagall. To distract herself before her appointment with the Headmaster, Hermione paid Hagrid a visit, bringing him breakfast.
Delighted, he invited her in, eyes twinkling. Asked about the reason for her early visit, Hermione told Hagrid about the appointment. Hagrid encouraged her and told her about Dumbledore, whom he, like many others, considered the greatest wizard of all time. He fed Lancelot scrambled eggs, which Hermione acknowledged with a stern look. Eventually, however, she allowed it. Hagrid laughed uproariously as the raven covered his head with a wing in shame when he met Hermione's gaze.
The visit to Hagrid's warm hut had done her good and she walked up to the Headmaster's Tower expectantly, but still nervously.
"Password?" asked a gargoyle, seemingly coming to life from its torpor in front of Hermione.
"Fizzing Whizzbees," Hermione said nervously.
"Correct!" the gargoyle exclaimed and jumped to the side. Hermione walked up a flight of stairs to Dumbledore's office door. Just as she was about to knock, the lock clicked and the door slowly slid open.
"Good morning, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said with a smile. He was wearing a scarlet robe today, which greatly accentuated his white beard. Hermione returned the greeting and entered. She let her eyes wander through the headmaster's office. On small tables stood a myriad of fragile-looking devices, some of which whirred rhythmically. Her gaze lingered on a large scarlet bird, almost the same colour as Dumbledore's robe. It had golden tail feathers and was about the size of a full-grown swan. Hermione had read about the rare birds.
"You have a phoenix!" she said, looking at Dumbledore in amazement.
"Quite right," he replied, winking at her. "His name is Fawkes." He stood up and walked over to the phoenix, who eyed Hermione with interest. "As you can see, I too have my winged companion, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said, brushing his hand over the massive bird's back.
"Sir, if you don't mind, I would prefer it if you called me Hermione," she said, feeling the blood rush to her head as Dumbledore eyed her briefly over his half-moon spectacles.
"As you wish, my dear," he said, nodding. "Well, I'm sure you're wondering why your Headmaster is asking you for a one-to-one meeting just after the first week," he said and Hermione nodded. "It has come to my attention that you are far exceeding expectations for a first-year, Hermione. Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape have told me of your abilities, inside and outside of class subjects," he said and at the last part he looked at her knowingly, causing Hermione to blush again.
"Since I trust the judgement of my esteemed colleagues, I must admit I became a little curious, especially about the report Professor Snape gave me," he said, pointing to the chair in front of his desk, where Hermione sat down. She froze for a moment at the last sentence, thinking back to the cautionary words of Elder Cathubodua. She had impressed upon her not to show her true abilities to anyone she didn't fully trust.
Earlier in the week she had been incautious. She looked suspiciously into the steel blue eyes of the man behind the desk. She recalled all the meetings with the Headmaster and the tales of Hagrid. What she had read about Albus Dumbledore also came to mind.
Could the man who had brought down Gellert Grindelwald and founded the Order of the Phoenix betray her trust? She doubted it.
"Don't get me wrong, Hermione. I didn't call you in to examine you like an animal. Rather, I wish to have a dialogue with you, if you will allow it, of course. Feel free to leave my office at any time," he said at Hermione's look.
"It's all right, sir. I trust you," Hermione said, relaxing a little.
"If you'll allow me, I'd like to verify Professor Snape's report first," he said, looking her in the eye. Hermione didn't know exactly what he meant but nodded in agreement. A moment later, she felt a gentle tapping on her mental block. It hadn't been as strong as Professor Snape's counter-attack, but still, Hermione pulled her head back in surprise.
"Impressive! Excuse my brash behaviour, but I wanted to see for myself," Dumbledore said, unable to hide his surprise. "You must know, I've been here at Hogwarts for a while. First as a student, then as a teacher, and now as Headmaster. I can rightfully say that I have seen thousands of students walk these halls. But, and allow me this brief self-praise, not even I had a mind as sharp as yours so early on," Dumbledore said seriously and Hermione looked at him incredulously.
"I will not be so foolish as to attack your mental barrier to learn more, but I would be happy if you could enlighten me a little. After all, there is no way that the Hermione Granger I accompanied to Diagon Alley for shopping just over a month ago is sitting in my office. Both in appearance and in mind," he said and adjusted his glasses briefly with a smile.
Hermione nodded gravely. She told Professor Dumbledore about Sigmund Freud's book, which she had used to expand her mind.
"Then it's all clear to me," said Dumbledore, who had raised his eyebrows at the mention of the name. Hermione looked at him in confusion, and Dumbledore told her that he had studied with Freud for two years after his school days after they had already exchanged ideas via owl during Dumbledore's school days. He also explained that he was one of Freud's students, mentioned in the book as the few people who had successfully completed the expansion of the mind.
Now it was Hermione's turn to raise her eyebrows in surprise. Instantly, she thought of hundreds of questions she wanted to ask someone who had known Freud. Dumbledore had obviously realised this, for he raised his hands and bore Hermione patience.
"So I understand correctly that you have successfully expanded and ordered your mind. I would be interested to know how long the trance was in which you completed this step," Dumbledore said.
"I slept for three days straight," Hermione said and Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully.
"Truly an amazing achievement. Your gift certainly helped you to understand and apply the material so quickly," he said. "Have you gained any new abilities after your mind expansion?" he asked and Hermione nodded. "Would you share them with me?" he asked her kindly and Hermione nodded again.
She raised her hand and with a flick of her wrist, levitated a goblet that was sitting on Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore gasped and looked speechless for a moment.
"I truly did not expect this. Nonverbal spells are difficult enough for young wizards, but without a focus, the fewest are able to cast spells," he said after a pause, looking at the goblet as if he had seen magic for the first time.
"I learned to cast spells without a focus by accident after our visit to Diagon Alley. At first, I thought I was going to be thrown out of school," Hermione said and Dumbledore chuckled.
"If you don't use an unforgivable curse outside of school, no one will kick you out of here, but let's keep that between us, shall we?" said Dumbledore with a wink and Hermione giggled.
"This then allowed me to practice all the spells that were in the textbooks. I also went back to Diagon Alley a few more times and bought more books, including Sigmund Freud's," Hermione explained and Dumbledore nodded. "I was able to do the nonverbal spells immediately after I sorted my mind. It all makes a lot more sense since then. But I still have a lot of empty spaces," she said and Dumbledore looked confused for a moment. "On the shelves," Hermione added.
"I'm afraid I am not following you, Hermione," Dumbledore said with a puzzled expression.
"Is your mind not an endless library of bookshelves when you visit it in a trance?" asked Hermione, and Dumbledore seemed to understand instantly.
"Ah, no. For me, it's an endless chessboard with new chess pieces appearing all the time," Dumbledore replied. "Everyone's mind is individual and so is their visual representation. I will show you some excerpts from Freud's lectures when I get a chance," Dumbledore explained.
"Show? You want me to use Legilimentics to look into your memories?" she asked confused at Dumbledore's choice of words.
"That will not be necessary, I have a more convenient method, but that is something for another day," he said and stood up. "I would now like a demonstration of your transfiguration spells. With or without a wand, you may choose," he said and asked Hermione to stand up as well. Hermione's ambition was sparked and she looked around Dumbledore's office.
Unable to find anything that didn't look valuable, she pulled a quill from her own pocket. She didn't want to destroy one of Dumbledore's items on her first spell. She placed it on a table that Dumbledore had just conjured. She waved her wand wordlessly and turned the quill into a silver needle, like the match in the first transformation lesson.
Dumbledore smiled, but she could see by his eyes that he had expected more. So, with another sweep, she made the table disappear. He seemed to like that better because he raised his eyebrows. She had only learned the vanishing spell in Transfiguration Through the Ages. The difficulty increased with the complexity and size of the object. Organic beings were even more difficult.
"I see you're still holding back," Dumbledore said with a smile. Hermione eyed him with a scowl and then waved her wand to perform the most difficult combination of transformation spells to date for her. First, with a nonverbal 'Avis', she created several birds, which chirped cheerfully from her wand and circled around her head. Then she made the birds disappear one by one, as she had done before with the table. Dumbledore clapped his hands and said she really needed to show this to Professor McGonagall.
"Those are tremendous skills you have on display, Hermione. And I say that as a former teacher in transfiguration," he said, motioning towards the desk. Apparently, he had seen enough. "A case like this has never happened before and requires appropriate action," he said with a serious look, which unnerved Hermione. "I'll hide it from the others, I promise!" she said hastily before Dumbledore could elaborate on his point. The latter smiled and raised his index finger.
"You're well advised to do that, no question. But that's not what I meant. We as teachers have made it our duty to nurture students' talents, whenever we recognise them. However, there is also a problem with the current timetable at Hogwarts. If you continue to study under this workload, you will probably be able to take the N.E.W.T. exam at the end of the year. But releasing a twelve-year-old from school into the free world goes against the educational mandate we teachers are under."
"But I don't even want to take the N.E.W.T. exam this year!" interjected Hermione. "I've only been here a week and I like it here like nowhere else. Believe me, Professor, there's nothing I'd rather do than spend less than seven years here," she held with a stern look.
"That's good to hear, my dear. It will save me some explaining. The last thing I want to discuss is the nurturing of your talents I just mentioned. Since your level would probably warrant sending you to final year classes, I think it would be advisable to train your skills individually," Dumbledore said. Hermione looked at him questioningly, not knowing exactly what he was getting at.
"Therefore, I would ask you to think about the subjects in which you would like to take intensive lessons. It would take place as individual lessons at the weekend, if the respective teacher agrees," Dumbledore said and Hermione's eyes widened.
"Transfiguration, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts," it came shooting out of her immediately. Dumbledore laughed.
"I'll take that as a definite yes," he said with a smile and Hermione beamed.
"Professor? If it were possible, I would also like to learn more about Occlumency and Legilimency," Hermione said timidly.
"That's within the realms of possibility, as long as you don't abuse Legilimency. According to Professor Snape's report, it wouldn't be a bad idea to tame you a little in that area," he said smiling over his half-moon glasses and Hermione blushed again. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. However, you should respect the privacy of the other wizards and witches from now on. We will find a way to hone your skills in a safe environment," he finished.
Hermione looked at him with shining eyes at the advancement of her talents. She promised Dumbledore to discontinue Legilimency and Emotion Reading from now on. He nodded delightedly and told her that the respective teacher would approach her over the course of the weekend to make the first appointment for individual lessons. He also said that any teacher who would contact her had his fullest trust and therefore deserved her fullest trust.
She nodded but thought that she would decide for herself. With a broad smile, Hermione stood up and said goodbye. As the door to Dumbledore's office slammed shut behind her, she heard a commotion break out behind it. Numerous voices shouted in disarray. Hermione suspected that the countless portraits hanging on the walls of the office had only pretended to be asleep. Grinning, she hopped down the stairs and headed for lunch in the Great Hall.
- Dumbledore's Office -
"Amazing! Never seen anything like it before! Encouraging talent! And this from a Muggleborn!" the portraits shouted in a jumble. Dumbledore, absorbed in his own thoughts, took no notice of them. He paced up and down the office a few times and finally approached the glass case where he kept his Pensieve. He took it out and placed it on the desk in front of him before tapping his wand on his temple and tying his memory of the meeting with Hermione to it before letting it flow into the Pensieve. The portraits were still discussing amongst themselves until Dumbledore commanded them to be quiet with a raised hand.
"Dumbledore! You must not allow a mudblood to gain such power!" one of the portraits shouted when the others had fallen silent.
" Restrain yourself, Phineas, or I will remove you instantly!" said Dumbledore sharply. The portrait snorted and folded its arms.
"Insolence!" some of them shouted, raising their index fingers threateningly. Dumbledore again commanded them to calm down.
"I must think. She could develop into a strong ally. But we must be careful that she is not seduced by the dark arts, or those who make use of them," he said, thinking briefly of Gellert Grindelwald.
He walked over to his phoenix and stroked its red feathers. The bird sang softly and soothingly while Dumbledore thought. Then, in a flash, he raised his head and looked over at the Pensieve. He drew his wand again and searched the depths of the jar for a memory he had collected from a friend more than a decade ago.
"No. No. No," he muttered to himself as he searched through the memories and pushed them aside. Finally, he found the memory and plunged his face into the think tank. Everything went black around him for a moment before he found himself in the living room of his school friend Elphias Doge. He sat down next to the Doge from memory and waited patiently. There was another person in the room, a young wizard whom Doge saw as a potential member of the Order of the Phoenix. They had a long chat about the situation Britain was in. Lord Voldemort was raging among wizards and Muggles.
And members of the Order of the Phoenix had also been killed. The young man seemed determined, but still hesitant.
"Mr. Gallagher, I understand your doubts, but I can tell you the Order of the Phoenix would benefit from your skills. You may be the last piece of the puzzle we are missing to finally bring down you know who. Dumbledore has high opinions of you," Doge said bustlingly. Dumbledore looked sadly over at the young wizard. David Gallagher had been tracked down and tortured to death by Bellatrix Lestrange a month later.
Dumbledore folded his hands in his lap and waited for the event to occur, which was why he had returned to this memory. After just over five minutes, during which the young wizard had finally agreed to join the Order, it happened. Gallagher, who was standing by the fireplace with the glass of brandy Doge had poured him for a toast, gazing thoughtfully into the flames, suddenly raised his head.
"Born just before the September equinox, unaware of her power, a daughter of the raven is born again after a thousand years to help the lion fight his involuntary brother. Divided between power and wisdom, she will only be able to help if first she does not fall into darkness," he said monotonously and with expressionless eyes. Elphias Doge looked completely bewildered.
His hand trembled a little. After the young wizard had spoken the prophecy, he looked confused for a moment and then put his glass down on the table in the living room. Hastily, he said goodbye to Doge, who still didn't seem to have caught himself. Dumbledore, who had been listening intently, withdrew from the memory and ended up back in his office.
He waved his wand and from a shelf, a large book floated towards him. He set it down on the desk and flicked to the last few pages written. His index finger ran down the list of students in the new year until it stopped at 'Granger, Hermione'. He glanced at the date of birth.
"September 19th, 1979," Dumbledore muttered, slumping back into his chair. It had to be her. There was no doubt about it. September 19th was four days before the Celtic September equinox and the prophecy had been spoken in the same year of her birth. He continued to ponder whether the lion meant another student, announced by a prophecy a year later. Harry Potter had been sorted into Gryffindor and was chosen by the wand that had a connection to Tom Riddle's wand.
Dumbledore's head was spinning. He didn't know what exactly a Daughter of the Raven was, only that according to prophecy there had been one a thousand years ago. He glanced at the portraits of the former headmasters of Hogwarts and then at the school crest. It could have been Rowena Ravenclaw. What he would give for the four founders to have been portrayed as well.
He decided to think about what he had just learned in a trance, to let his body rest. More and more he felt the age that had its merits in the mind, but the physical decay could only be slowed down with magic, not stopped. He put the Pensieve and the student register back in their places and went to his bedroom.
- Sunday morning, one day later -
Hermione woke up before her clock's alarm by a knocking sound she knew only too well. She searched for her glasses and recognised an owl sitting on her window sill, pecking at the window with its beak. Hermione pushed the window open and let the owl in, which flew in and settled on the bed, where it stretched out a leg with a letter hanging from it.
Hermione took the letter from the impatient owl, whereupon it immediately flew out again. She recognised the green ink and curved handwriting immediately. Professor McGonagall had invited her to her office after breakfast. Hermione made a jump and dressed quickly, not wanting to waste any time. She wolfed down her breakfast and on her way out ran into Professor McGonagall, who had just come into the Great Hall to have breakfast herself.
She smiled barely noticeable to Hermione, who concluded that even Professor McGonagall allowed herself to sleep in once a week. Grinning, she walked out of the castle portal to the grounds. As it was quite cold and misty, Lancelot's visit was kept rather short as Hermione quickly began to shiver. She fed him some egg from breakfast as she did every morning and quickly said goodbye to return to the warm castle.
She decided to wait for Professor McGonagall outside her office. She sat down against the warm stone wall opposite the office door and read a little in 'Transfiguration Today', the first edition of which had come out on her Blotts Book on Friday. When the Gryffindor Head of House finally appeared in the corridor, Hermione folded up the book and got up. McGonagall unlocked her door and invited Hermione inside.
"Professor Dumbledore has informed me that you are far exceeding previous performance in my subject, Miss Granger. The private lessons will therefore begin at your current level. I'm sure we can still make a few corrections in one or two areas," she said with the stern expression that she always showed in class. Hermione nodded eagerly. She also offered Professor McGonagall to call Hermione by her first name, which she decisively but politely refused. She did not give a reason for this, but Hermione had come to know her as a very correct person so far and suspected her motives there.
"As I'm sure you will understand, we will have to forgo the reward of house points in this one-to-one class. It wouldn't be long before the other students wondered why an extra hundred or so points ended up in the Ravenclaw jar every weekend. After all, I still have to keep my house in competition too," she said with the hint of a smile.
"Well, my office is unsuitable for class, so we will practice in one of the classrooms on the sixth floor," she said and stood up. Together with Hermione, she went up to the sixth floor, where she unlocked a classroom and locked it again behind them.
"We are now undisturbed. Professor Dumbledore has left me a little in the dark about your level of knowledge," she said sullenly. Hermione couldn't suppress a smile, knowing that Dumbledore didn't want to spoil the surprise for Professor McGonagall. "Is there anything, in particular, you would like to demonstrate?" asked McGonagall, pointing behind her where she had prepared items for transfiguration on various student desks.
Hermione nodded and got straight to the point this time. Again, with a nonverbal 'Avis', she made several birds appear from the tip of her wand and then, as in Dumbledore's office, made them disappear one by one, again nonverbally. As soon as the first bird had appeared from Hermione's wand, Professor McGonagall had let out a high-pitched whoop. Stunned, she watched the rest of Hermione's performance and looked at her in bewilderment for a few seconds. Then she did the last thing Hermione had expected.
She began to laugh uproariously. The usually stern Professor McGonagall started laughing heartily and had to sit down. Hermione blushed as she couldn't quite interpret this unusual behaviour from the usually stiff teacher. After about a minute, Professor McGonagall heaved a hearty sigh and wiped the tears of laughter from her face. "Screw that!" she exclaimed loudly. "Fifty points for Ravenclaw!".
Hermione beamed at her.
"I must say, you've more than impressed me. Dumbledore will not hear the end of this, he's been mightily understating your abilities," she said, chuckling. "Chapeau, Miss Granger," she said, slowly getting herself back under control. She smoothed out her robe and put on her stern look again. "Well, let's see what I can do for you then, Miss Granger. I look forward to this lesson and those to come," she said seriously.
She directed Hermione to follow her to the prepared tables. "These spells will be far below your current level, but believe me, there is always room for improvement. The more precise your spells, the better the result. I would like you to cast the spells as you did in class so that I can evaluate your technique more effectively," McGonagall explained. Hermione nodded and cast the first spell.
Immediately, the match turned into a needle. Professor McGonagall nodded and showed Hermione how to create a faster and smoother transfiguration with minimal adjustments to her stance and the swing of the wand. This approach continued for the rest of the lesson. Hermione could learn a lot from Professor McGonagall to perfect her spells. When Hermione had worked through the last spell with Professor McGonagall, she dropped exhausted onto one of the chairs. The high concentration and minimal intervention to improve the spells had drained her.
"Give yourself some rest, my dear. You have done a really good job. I admit that I have enjoyed this lesson enormously. I look forward to our next one," Professor McGonagall said, unlocking the classroom door. Hermione still accompanied her to her office.
"I'll have to give Filius a heads up, I'm afraid. I wouldn't want him to have a heart attack while demonstrating your skills," she said blithely, but with a serious face.
"I'll also impress upon him to keep the competition for the house cup fair, even though I've already let myself go a bit," she said, smiling at Hermione. Hermione nodded understandingly and said goodbye.
She was tired and wanted to take a nap in the Ravenclaw tower after lunch. When she got to her small dormitory, she was overcome with longing for her raven. She opened the window and called for Lancelot with all the volume she could muster. Hermione couldn't make out much through the fog that still surrounded the castle, but heard the familiar flutter of Lancelot's wings a little later. He glided the last few feet towards the window and landed on the sill. Hermione stroked him and then let him survey the room. When he was done, he landed on her outstretched forearm.
"I'd like to take a little nap, would you mind snuggling with me for a bit?" asked Hermione after she had closed the window. Lancelot blinked at her and hopped onto her bed. Hermione changed into her pyjamas and lay down in bed. She turned on her side and Lancelot joined her under the covers, only his head peeking out from under the covers next to hers. He wiggled his body a little, as he always did when he settled into his beanie, and then closed his eyes. Hermione, too, had fallen asleep a moment later.