"Creevy, Colin!" shouted Professor McGonagall across the Great Hall. Hermione watched the blond boy sit excitedly on the stool to be chosen by the Sorting Hat. Hermione missed the house the boy was put in because she had been tapped from the side and told by Padma Patil that Harry and Ron were not at the Gryffindor table. She rolled her eyes and learned that they had also not been seen on the Hogwarts Express.
"That's unusual," Hermione thought to herself. Harry had been with the Weasleys for the remaining weeks of the holidays and as far as Hermione could tell at the Gryffindor table, there were three boys with flaming red hair sitting there. Hermione shook her head at the thought that Harry was in trouble this time before the year had even started.
She applauded along with the rest of her house when "Fawcett, Eleanor" became the first Ravenclaw of her year. Hermione was pleased to discover a little later that Luna Lovegood, the blonde girl who had been sitting in the compartment with her and Susan, had also come to Ravenclaw. She waved at her and offered her the seat next to her. Luna beamed and sat down next to Hermione.
"Hello," she said with a dreamy tone in her voice and leaned forward to watch the rest of the selection ceremony. A few more students were chosen until Hermione finally looked up at "Weasley, Ginevra!" It was the second girl she had spent the train ride with.
Hermione hoped that Ginny, as she wanted to be called, would get her wish. She had told Hermione and the others on the train that she was tired of all her relatives being put into Gryffindor "by tradition" and that she couldn't identify with Gryffindor. She also wanted to step out of her brothers' shadow and be in charge of her own life.
Hermione had had a lot of respect for young Ginny setting such goals for herself at an early age. It took a while for the hat to bob slightly back and forth from left to right on Ginny's head. It reminded Hermione somewhat of Harry's selection. There, too, the hat had taken a long time to decide.
Finally, the hat called out, "Hufflepuff!" and Ginny beamed brightly as she was greeted by the Hufflepuffs. Hermione looked to the red-haired boys at the Gryffindor table who were looking at each other in shock. Hermione giggled and clapped as the Headmaster stood up with his arms outstretched after the selection.
Like last year, he uttered a few funny words and the wonderful feast Hermione had been looking forward to all day appeared. Luna next to her seemed to have a weakness for pudding, for she ate very little of the feast, instead loading a huge portion of various puddings onto her bowl at dessert. After the meal, Dumbledore rose again and formally introduced Gilderoy Lockhart as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.
He jumped up and bowed towards each table like an actor after a theatre performance. Hermione couldn't deny that she admired the handsome teacher. She had high expectations of him, especially after the incredible exploits she had read about in his books.
As Dumbledore bade them farewell, Hermione wished Luna a good time on her first tour of Hogwarts with Penelope, their prefect. She stood up and walked determinedly towards Professor Flitwick. Dumbledore had mentioned that students interested in Quidditch team tryouts should see their Head of House. Hermione wasted no time in greeting the joyfully squealing professor.
"Good evening, Miss Granger! Nice to see you again," he said delightedly, smiling.
"Professor, I'd like to try out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team".
"Excellent! A little physical exercise is healthy for the mind too!"
"There's just one problem, sir. I don't have enough gold to buy a broom in case I'm accepted," she said and pressed her lips together in a bit of resignation.
"You leave that to me, Miss Granger. If you fly half as well as you do magic, I will personally see to it that you are well equipped if need be," Flitwick said, glancing around briefly to see if they were undisturbed. Since most of the students and teachers had already left the hall, he continued to speak a little more quietly.
"Last year Minerva sponsored young Mr Potter's broom, so I too can give a student a hand. That's just between us though, yeah?" he said and winked at her. Hermione looked at him with wide eyes and nodded.
"I'll get back to you when Mr McFinley tells me the date for the tryouts, Miss Granger," he said and then shooed her out of the Great Hall with a smile. Hermione gave a little hop of joy as she walked out of the hall. Now the only thing standing in her way was herself. She resolved to train hard over the next few days to be as well prepared as possible.
Hermione sighed a little sadly as she looked at the single bed in her room in the Ravenclaw tower with no Susan waiting for her. She smiled at the thought that her best friend probably felt the same way. Physical closeness was something Hermione had quickly become accustomed to and she was glad for the fact that she could put herself in a trance to fall asleep.
The next day, there were whispers all over the school about how Harry and Ron had suddenly appeared at school. She learned from Neville that the two of them had climbed through the Fat Lady's portrait hole late that evening after the feast and had been covered in scratches and small cuts. Also, Ron's wand had broken in two and was only hanging together by the silvery unicorn hair that was the core of his wand.
He had tried to mend it with tape, which had proved to be a bad idea during the first transfiguration class. Professor McGonagall had had to painfully conjure his ear back onto his head and had immediately sent him to Madam Pomfrey to have the wound healed properly. In the afternoon, she had the first lesson Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Like last year, all the students in her year had DADA lessons together, which Susan took advantage of to pull Hermione by the hand to the back of the class.
"We have to pay attention, I can't concentrate this far back after all," she said and Susan rolled her eyes.
"You already know everything anyway. You could probably teach the subject," Susan countered, which made Hermione turn slightly pink.
"Alright, alright," Hermione said, smiling at Susan. She knew why Susan wanted to be in the back row and the two sat close together so that their legs were touching. They exchanged brief glances and could see in each other's eyes that they both missed the touch.
When class started, Hermione quickly lapsed into a dreamy doze at the sight of the handsome wizard telling them his story on the journey to his current position. She noticed that Susan didn't look so dreamy, yet felt respect for Lockhart.
"But now for something completely different!" exclaimed Lockhart after his tale, tapping a shrouded birdcage that shook menacingly at his touch. Hermione sat up attentively and stretched her neck to get a better look at the cage.
"Who can tell me what these creatures are called?" he asked, pulling the piece of cloth from the cage with the movement of a Spanish toreador. Hermione gasped and raised her arm.
"They're pixies, Professor," Hermione replied after Professor Lockhart had called her out. The little creatures were about 20 centimetres tall and bright blue. Hermione had read about them and most of it had not been good. Seeing so many of them in a pile was scary, because Hermione had read stories where wizards had been overwhelmed by just one pixie in some cases.
"Correct! Let's see if you can handle them then!" shouted Lockhart, opening the door of the cage.
Instantly, dozens of the imps buzzed around the room and began tearing it apart. Several students cried out as the pixies pinched them, pulled their hair, or threw their books across the room. Hermione immediately jumped up and rescued her Blotts Book into her shoulder bag before drawing her wand.
"Petrificus Totalus!" she shouted, pointing the wand at a pixie who was currently pulling at Susan's braid. It froze in mid-air and fell to the ground with a thud. It was easy enough to paralyse pixies who were concentrating on some nastiness they were doing, but the pixies whirring around were too fast for her.
Professor Lockhart, who had been watching the chaos for a few moments laughing, had been spotted by the little creatures and waved his wand wildly, which was snatched from him a second later by another pixie. Most of the students fled the classroom and after a few moments only Hermione, Susan and Harry were left.
"You'll manage, the lesson is over!" shouted Professor Lockhart and disappeared through the door. Hermione watched him go with a furrowed brow and finally decided to use one of her newer skills. At the end of the last term, Professor Flitwick had shown her how to cast spells not just on a specific point, but in a spatial dimension. Again she called the petrification spell, but this time she focused on the dimensions of the classroom.
"Finite," she said instantly, pointing her wand first at Susan, then at Harry. Both had been included by her spell.
"Sorry, but that would have taken forever otherwise," Hermione said with an apologetic look.
"You're just brilliant, Hermione," Susan said, laughing. The three of them gathered up the pixies that had fallen frozen to the floor and stuffed them into the cage. Hermione picked up Professor Lockhart's wand.
"What a busybody, just took off! Gilderoy Lockhart? Rather Gilderoy Braggart!", Harry said angrily.
"I'm sure he did that to test our skills," Hermione defended the teacher, but even she couldn't quite get over the fact that the professor had even left his wand behind.
She decided to put the wand on the desk and walked with Susan and Harry towards the corridor. As the lesson had ended abruptly, Hermione went out onto the castle grounds to see Lancelot, who greeted her joyfully as he landed on her shoulder. Susan had accompanied her. She waved at him with a smile and sank down on the grass, which was shone on by the setting sun.
"Do you agree that Professor Lockhart seems rather pretentious?" asked Susan, looking at her with an annoyed expression. Hermione made a face in return.
"I think we should give him a chance. Maybe he was going to give us a task like the ones we face in the real world. You've heard about his adventures, right? Do you think we can practice something like that in the classroom?", Hermione countered. Susan had been watching her as she had spoken and her face now showed a grin.
"You fancy him, don't you?" she said bluntly and Hermione's blood rushed to her face. Susan grinned widely and shook her head.
"I don't fancy him! But you can't deny him good looks," Hermione admitted, looking down at the floor. Susan giggled and pulled out her wand.
"Now would be the perfect opportunity to teach me the hair removal spell!" she exclaimed and Hermione was glad she had changed the subject. She nodded with a smile and a pleasant shiver ran through her body as she thought back to how she had removed Susan's hair during the holidays.
It took Susan a few tries to get the hang of it, but eventually she had been able to remove the barely visible hair from her left arm. Happily, she smiled at Hermione and straightened up to walk with her to the greenhouses, where the lesson in herbology would soon begin.
The rest of the day was unspectacular compared to the pixie hunt in the afternoon. In herbology they learned how to repot mandrakes. If you had your earmuffs on, it was no problem and only Ron seemed not to have put his on properly, because he collapsed at the high-pitched screech of a mandrake.
Professor Sprout had quickly got him back on his feet and so they spent the rest of the afternoon repotting the young mandrakes. When Hermione sat down exhausted next to Luna at dinner, to her amazement, she handed her a small, sealed scroll of parchment. She thanked her and pocketed it. Hungrily she ate her dinner and when she had finished her conversation with Luna, she unrolled the parchment.
She smiled delightedly when she caught sight of the curved writing. Professor Dumbledore hadn't waited long to invite her to her first private lesson after the holidays. She looked at her watch and rose to finish her homework in the library before heading to the Headmaster's office.
"Good evening, Hermione! I hope you had a good holiday," Albus Dumbledore greeted her as she entered his office with Lancelot.
"Yes, sir," she said with a smile, settling down in the chintz chair Dumbledore had conjured up for her. Dumbledore smiled at her over his half-moon spectacles.
"I have a few things I would like to discuss with you tonight. If we have time at the end, we could visit a new memory, but I'll beat myself to it. I would like to hear from you if you have any requests regarding individual lessons with me and my colleagues," Dumbledore elaborated and Hermione beamed.
"That's very kind of you, Professor. I was thinking I could possibly improve my Potions brewing skills a little this year with Professor Snape," she said after a brief pause of consideration.
"A good decision," Dumbledore commented. "I would also like to explore your third skill with you unless you would like to learn something else in our lessons together?" he asked, but Hermione nodded eagerly at the mention of her unexplored skill.
"I would also be interested in becoming more proficient in elemental spells," she added and Dumbledore nodded.
"I can see that there is something else on your mind, Hermione," Dumbledore said, eyeing her over his half-moon glasses.
Hermione looked at him thoughtfully but then opened up about the wish she'd been harbouring since the first moment she'd found out about the spell.
"I - would like to become an Animaga," Hermione said, looking at Dumbledore with a steady gaze. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I am aware of how elaborate, dangerous and difficult it is to achieve the transformation. And I'm also aware that I have to be registered," she added. She had found out all about Animagi in the library after Professor McGonagall had transformed into a cat and back in one of her first lessons in Transfiguration.
"Indeed, I see you've been studying up on the subject," Professor Dumbledore replied, gazing absently out the window for a moment.
"You will need my help for that. If you have studied the matter, you know how many factors influence the success of the transformation. Nevertheless, I don't want to deny you this wish, if you are really aware of the dangers. However, we still have to clarify one question. If you answer this question truthfully, I will do everything in my power to help you become an Animaga. Do you agree?" elaborated Dumbledore, looking at her with a serious expression after he had asked his question. Hermione was taken aback for a moment, but couldn't really make sense of what Dumbledore was about to ask her. She nodded at him with a serious look and leaned back in her chair.
"Now then. Here's my question. Are you the Daughter of the Raven?"
It felt like Hermione had been struck by lightning. She was too surprised to control her features. Eyes wide with horror and mouth agape, she stared at Dumbledore.
"How - how do you know about the Daughter of the Raven?" she asked after a few seconds of shock, during which she had been looking at Dumbledore's sullen yet enlightened expression. Had Dumbledore found a crack in her mental barrier and entered her mind? How else could he have found out?
"So you are?" he asked seriously, his blue eyes seeming to bore into hers.
"Yes," she said after taking one deep breath.
"Then there is something I need to show you," Dumbledore said, waving his wand, whereupon the Pensieve floated out of its display case and onto the desk. He searched the depths of the Pensieve for the right memory for a few seconds like a gold digger sifting out flotsam in a river.
When he found the memory, he gestured for Hermione to enter. She did as she was told and a short time later found herself in the living room of Elphias Doge. Dumbledore explained to her who the two people were after he had appeared at her side.
Hermione was confused. What did these two men's conversation have to do with her connection to the Elder? After all, it was about the young wizard's recruitment to the Order of the Phoenix. But then her eyes widened as she heard the monotone words of the prophecy.
"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."
"Was that a prophecy?" asked Hermione breathlessly as the wizard's eyes turned back to Doge, who was looking at him in bewilderment.
"Very good, Hermione," Dumbledore replied, instructing Hermione to follow him out of the memory. When she had settled back in her chair, she looked thoughtfully at Lancelot, who was sitting on the perch Dumbledore had conjured for him.
"Do you know what that last part is supposed to mean?" asked Hermione, already feverishly considering what the prophecy might mean for her.
"First of all, you should never take a prophecy literally. Not all prophecies that have been spoken in great numbers over the last millennia have actually come true," said Dumbledore.
"But I am the Daughter of the Raven," Hermione said firmly. Dumbledore looked at her thoughtfully.
"You are an extraordinary young witch, Hermione. I knew that when I first met you. It is reserved for a few wizards and witches to sense another wizard's aura. Being one of those few, I could sense the power that lies dormant in the depths of your body. But even I have not yet drawn all the conclusions as to what this prophecy might mean," Dumbledore explained.
"Wait a moment, I can show you something too. I need to get into my mind for a moment though," Hermione said and Dumbledore nodded with his eyebrows raised in interest. She put herself in a trance and went to her Pensieve. She had decided to let Dumbledore in on it.
There was no point in withholding information from him anymore. Besides, she trusted no one more than him, who helped her explore her mental abilities despite some questionable moral consequences. She pulled the memory of the elders' appearance in Lancelot from the Pensieve of her mind. A moment later, her eyes snapped open and she was back in the headmaster's office.
She raised her index finger to her temple and used it to pull the memory from her mind. After entering the memory, Dumbledore looked around her room in her parents' house with interest. He hummed happily and watched the memory Hermione try out the nonverbal spells, having awoken from the trance in which she had expanded her mind.
She was surprised at how young she looked compared to now, even though only a little over a year had passed. Luckily she had been able to determine where the memory began, otherwise Dumbledore might have found her still in the bath.
"Ten points for Ravenclaw," Dumbledore said jokingly as the memory Hermione had just turned one of Lancelot's snacks into a mouse and back again without raising an eyebrow.
Hermione laughed but fell silent as Lancelot came flying in through the open window. For a moment she was unsure if Dumbledore would even be able to hear the Elder speak to her. But when the raven's eyes began to glow silver, Dumbledore gasped. As in Hermione's head, the Elder's words seemed to echo in Dumbledore's.
"Daughter of the Raven! Your time has come. The Elders are calling you!"
"Are - are you Rowena Ravenclaw?" the memory Hermione asked in a choked voice.
"No. Rowena was the first Daughter of the Raven. You are her successor. I have been titled many times, most recently I was called Cathubodua. You, my child, like Rowena, are blessed by the spheres. Few mortals have ever been able to contact the Elders," it echoed in their minds and Dumbledore's eyes widened.
"Then - did you send Lancelot?" asked the Hermione from memory.
"Your raven chose you. You followed your destiny, Daughter of the Raven," Cathubodua replied.
"What does that mean?" asked Hermione, confused.
"The Daughter of the Raven is born in times of great hardship to assist the warriors in the fight against extinction. The mind and the power in unison. Protect and advise the lion, or the world as you know it will be no more," the Elder replied.
"I - I don't know if I will be able to," Hermione said with a tremor in her voice.
"Don't be afraid. Your skills will be formed by the time the battle begins. But beware of the evil that lurks beneath the surface. Do not show your true power to anyone you do not fully trust until the lion begins the fight," the elder said in a wise voice.
"Can I always talk to you through the raven now?" asked Hermione.
"No. I will not appear to you again until the battle is decided. Go your way and trust your mind. What you think is right will be right. Farewell, Daughter of the Raven," Cathubodua said and Lancelot's eyes lost their silvery light. Dumbledore and Hermione were thrown back into the Headmaster's office as the memory ended. He dropped into his chair with an expression on his face that reminded Hermione very much of the way she had looked when she had first seen magic.
"This is beyond my wildest imagination," he finally said, looking at Hermione as if he were looking at her from a new perspective.
"Do you know anything about the Elders, sir?" asked Hermione with interest. But to her amazement, Dumbledore shook his head.
"That puts everything into entirely new dimensions. The world of magic as we know it is not nearly as deeply explored as I thought," he said and Hermione was a little shocked that Dumbledore didn't seem to know about everything as he usually did.
"Where do we go from here?" asked Hermione, somewhat perplexed.
"The most important thing is that you continue your education and develop yourself, Hermione. Everything else can be discussed in time. Despite your mental - and allow me - physical, maturity compared to other students your age, I think it is imperative that you do not place too much focus on this prophecy," Dumbledore explained, and Hermione was relieved to see his wise charisma had returned.
"Thank you, Professor. However, I still have a few questions," Hermione said, still preoccupied with the two memories. "Do you know who the lion is that is mentioned in both prophecies?" she asked.
"I think I can be absolutely certain from your memory that it is Harry Potter," Dumbledore said and Hermione gasped. Dumbledore explained to her that there were several pieces of circumstantial evidence for this, which he would tell her about another day. Hermione could tell by the look on his face that he didn't think it was time yet to reveal all his knowledge or suspicions to her. She was split between a thirst for knowledge and respect for Dumbledore, but she decided to let him choose when to let her in on it.
"So there will be a battle of Harry against Voldemort that I will have to help him with?" asked Hermione and Dumbledore nodded.
"That is all in the hopefully distant future, Hermione. I am only answering your questions to make you aware of the importance of properly training your powers and mind. However, we must not forget that you are not a soldier, but a gifted young witch who, as the Elder has said, must find her way and realise what is good for her," Dumbledore explained and Hermione felt a slight twinge in her nose at the faith her headmaster was showing her.
"Thank you, Professor. I will try to improve my skills, but not focus my whole life on them," she said and Dumbledore seemed relieved.
"Then we can now return to the subject of Animagus. Since I helped Professor McGonagall complete the transformation years ago, I will be your advisor. Also, for the time being, I don't want you to talk to anyone about this. Not even with your closest friends or the teachers," Dumbledore said seriously and Hermione frowned.
"But I have to register anyway. Then anyone who wants to know can find out, can't they?" said Hermione somewhat uncomprehendingly.
"I would advise you, in this new light of impending events, to complete the transformation in secret, Hermione. Even if that means not registering you. You have my word that as Grand Master of the Wizarding Gamot, I will protect you from legal consequences should it come to that. The ability to move about in animal form without anyone else knowing is too great an advantage to disclose, given the prophecies," Dumbledore elaborated, smiling when he saw Hermione's incredulous expression.
Hermione's surprise was written all over her face for the second time that evening. Her headmaster was advising her to go against the law. But when she thought about it for a second, she realised the benefits of secrecy. She nodded and promised Dumbledore that she would only let people in who he considered trustworthy. He, in turn, thanked her for her trust and immediately began to tell her about his experience with Professor McGonagall's transformation.
It had taken her three years because there had been various problems with the potion, which had to be made first. But he assured Hermione that with his current knowledge he could not only speed up the transformation but guarantee its success. Hermione had listened to him with shining eyes and memorised everything Dumbledore needed from her. Since first of all a mandrake leaf had to be kept in the mouth from one full moon to the next, Hermione would not be able to start until the 12th of September, as the next full moon was on that night.
"I can get the mandrake leaf as well as the chrysalis of the Death's-head Hawk Moth without any problems. I will also scout around for the place where we will find the dew that has been untouched for a week. After all, Hogwarts is the perfect place for it. With that, your main task is to not swallow or lose the Mandrake Leaf," Dumbledore explained.
"Thank you, Professor!" said Hermione, planning to take extra care with her part of the task. It felt great to be able to count on Albus Dumbledore's help.
"Professor, I would still like to ask you for something," she said with a serious expression and Dumbledore watched her carefully. She had changed her mind after all. "I want to know everything you know about me and Harry. Even if you think it may not yet be relevant to my present situation. I want to know all the background and be involved because it's clear to see that you have a plan."
Dumbledore sighed. He looked at her for a moment with a mixture of sadness and admiration but finally nodded.
"We'll have to start with another memory for that," he said, pulling the Pensieve closer, from which a small white figure rose after a few minutes. It was different from the memories Hermione had visited so far. It seemed isolated to the person speaking, which meant there was no environment to immerse oneself in. In a raspy, deep voice that Hermione hadn't expected the slight young woman with the thick glasses to have at all, she uttered a prophecy. Hermione had to force herself not to pay attention to the appearance of the woman, who reminded her very much of herself before her encounter with the wizarding world. The prophecy was about a boy whom the Dark Lord would mark as his equal and that one had to kill the other, for only one of them could live while the other survived.
Hermione understood at least part of the prophecy right away.
"Voldemort marked Harry with the lightning scar?" she asked Dumbledore, who nodded in agreement.
"But that wasn't his intention, you must know. He had not heard the full prophecy and was focused on killing his peer before his power could fully develop. And so he inflicted him with the scar, which is a relic of the Killing Curse, which ricocheted off Harry," Dumbledore explained.
"Do you know why Harry survived the Killing Curse?" asked Hermione, excitement spreading through her as Dumbledore now nodded with a slightly sad look on his face.
"It was Harry's mother who used ancient magic to save her son from being killed by Voldemort. By sacrificing herself for him. A mother's love pushed to its limits, still strong, woven into a spell."
Hermione swallowed. She felt her eyes moisten and tried to blink away the tears. She had never really been aware of Harry's history. She had only ever looked at him from a distance and read the entries in the books of recent wizarding history.
"That's why even last year Voldemort couldn't harm Harry in the Mirror Room, you see. The love with which Harry is magically protected by his mother is the power mentioned in the prophecy."
"The power the Dark Lord does not know," she said and Dumbledore nodded.
"Why didn't Voldemort die? Didn't his own death curse rebound on him?" asked Hermione, now looking at a thoughtful Dumbledore.
"You're asking the right question, Hermione," Dumbledore said. He explained to her that he had yet to find out what had triggered Voldemort to continue to exist, in a form that was neither dead nor properly alive.
Hermione reflected in a moment of silence, trying to summarise the knowledge she had gained.
"So Harry is the lion from my prophecy, and Voldemort is his involuntary brother because he marked him as an equal," she said, and Dumbledore agreed with her.
"More than that, even their wands are related. I learned from Mr Ollivander that Harry's wand contains the second feather of Fawkes, whose first feather was already used to make Voldemort's wand," he explained. "The two are linked by a terrible and seemingly inseparable bond."
"How should I behave in Harry's presence in the future? Does he know about everything you have told me?" asked Hermione and Dumbledore shook his head.
"Harry is not ready yet, Hermione. He has yet to find his place in the wizarding world. He is still far too preoccupied with himself to understand the bigger picture. I must hereby ask you not to reveal any of this knowledge to him. Do I have your word, Hermione?" he asked with a serious look and Hermione assured him that the knowledge was safe with her. Dumbledore relaxed a little.
"I think you should look at your relationship rationally, but let it develop as you see fit. I can't tell you what to do, of course, but if I may give you a hint, let him go his way while you go yours. If the prophecy really comes true, you will be led to the same place by fate anyway," Dumbledore said.
Hermione was grateful that Dumbledore left it up to her how she would interact with Harry.
"That was a lot of new knowledge for both of us to digest, I think. If you don't mind, I would like to end our meeting with this, I bid you goodnight," Dumbledore said and Hermione nodded.
"Thank you for trusting me, Professor," Hermione said and Dumbledore thanked her too for trusting him. She said goodbye and, lost in thought, made her way to Ravenclaw Tower with Lancelot. She was glad to be able to put herself into a trance to sleep because this new knowledge might have kept her awake all night.
When she entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom two days later, she smiled at the waving Susan who greeted her as if she hadn't seen Hermione for weeks. In fact, just that morning, they had gone for a ride on Susan's Clean Sweep to practise for their Quidditch teams' upcoming tryouts.
Since no one else was in the classroom yet, Hermione dared to greet her with a little kiss on the mouth. Susan sighed and smiled broadly at her.
"I've missed this," Hermione said, looking around briefly to make sure no one had actually seen her.
"Me too. Well, are you ready for some new stories from the life of the great Gilderoy of Lockhart?" she said and they both giggled. Hermione slapped her leg with feigned sternness and told her to give Lockhart another chance. However, when he had already spent another whole hour talking only about himself, Hermione too became a little suspicious. When the lesson was over and none of the students had even picked up their wands once, Hermione went to the front of the room to the teacher's desk when most of the class had already left.
"Professor, can you tell me again about the vampire you made become a vegetarian?" she asked in an emphatically dreamy voice. She could tell by the flattered look on his face that he had taken the bait. Hermione gathered all her courage and performed the Legilimens Charm while Lockhart told her about the vampires. She had learned from Professor Snape how to tell - without invading a person's memories - if it was a lie.
She had to use all her self-control not to show any emotion when she realised that Lockhart was outright lying to her and that there was not even an indication that any of his words were true. She was outraged at this specious teacher who adorned himself with other people's feathers.
"Thank you, you are my hero," she said purringly and stormed out of the classroom. She was angry, but mostly at herself. That she had allowed herself to be so blinded. And Dumbledore? He was an experienced Legilimentor and would surely have been able to find out who he was hiring.
She walked thoughtfully down the corridors and almost bumped into Luna, who came up to her smiling dreamily.
"Hello, Hermione! Are you all right? Did the Nargles get you? You seem a bit rattled," she greeted Hermione.
She smiled at the mention of the creatures Luna and her father believed in. Hermione found Luna and her interest in unexplored creatures cute and enjoyed listening to her because she had a different perspective on the magical world than the authors of the numerous books, who mostly considered their own knowledge to be law.
"Hi Luna! Yeah probably," she said, giggling.
"I'm supposed to give you this from Professor Snape," Luna said, pressing a small sealed parchment into Hermione's hand. Hermione smiled and thanked Luna before she headed off to Charms class.
Author's notes: We're back at Hogwarts and Hermine learns a lot about her future and meets new people. I hope you liked this chapter that introduces a few new characters and continues the path of the Daughter of the Raven.
If you liked the chapter, I would be happy to read a few lines from you. Also thank you to all the people that already reviewed, it really means a lot!
See you next time!
Kasing