The next teacher to test her turned out to be Professor Binns. She was shocked by that, actually, as she hadn't honestly thought he could leave his section of the castle, at least not without realizing he was dead. Still, he droned on about how she was a brave girl to be facing the challenges head on like this, one of the few times she could remember him acknowledging the specifics of the situations around him.
He then quizzed her on…well a little of everything. He focused on the Goblin Wars in class, but it seemed that was a choice, not something he had to do, as he brought up things from the Founding of Hogwarts, to the international treaties that eventually would form the International Confederation of Wizards, and even going into things that were far more recent, historically speaking.
All in all, it took almost an hour, the longest of the tests so far, given she couldn't exactly speed her way through this, even as she answered each question in turn. Luckily, nothing was actually obscure knowledge, and in fact, she knew it all from simply having read 'Hogwarts, A History' before coming to school, which pleased her greatly. Then she had a moment of doubt as Professor Binns finally seemed to freeze in mid sentence.
At first she thought something might be wrong, and asked if he was okay, but the ghost did not respond to her directly. Instead he smiled at her, told her she had a bright future ahead, so long as she remembered the past behind. Then, without another world, and his face going blank like he forgot everything he'd been doing, he drifted out of the field, moving up and to the side, straight towards his classroom.
It took a while for anyone to come into the field with her, either not sure what had happened, or simply discussing amongst themselves, but given there were only two subjects left, she knew who was likely to be her next challenge. She smiled when her predictions turned out to be correct, as Professor Sprout came into clear view next, her face beaming as she nodded to the young woman before her.
She wasted no time in summoning the things for her test. Pots, half a dozen, five empty, and one with a peculiar kind of plant in it. She had, honestly, expected a mandrake to be her test from the Herbology professor, given they were a major part of Year 2's course work. Instead she was faced with something she recognized only by reputation, a special kind of flower that the non-magical community might call a large sunflower.
The name for it was actually that too, though in magical terms, the thing was far, far greater than those that muggles knew. The flower here was able to store and redirect sunlight to defend itself, and when a field of them got together it was impossible to cross in the daytime. Archimedes was said to have used a particularly large specimen to defend his home island during the Second Punic War, thwarted only when a Roman Wizard used a spell that dampened all light over the island, so his forces could approach and kill the man.
The thing was not a normal part of Hogwarts learning, but at the same time, it was no more complex to care for than what a Second Year would be expected to handle. Professor Sprout instructed her to repot the plant into the pot that had the best soil for it, informing her that she'd used a 'bait' spell to cause this specimen to lose all its energy a few hours earlier, so she needn't worry about being burned.
With that, Hermione set to work, inspecting the soil in the other five pots, and finding that Professor Sprout, like the others, had offered her more than a single correct choice. Of course, without having drunk in the knowledge of the Herbology's more advanced textbooks, she would not have seen a difference in the soil, as at a glance dirt was dirt, and all five choices contained dirt.
She, however, could see the subtle differences in texture, the small hints in the scent of it all. It was actually interesting, as she poked her wand into each pot in turn, shuffling the two 'wrong' choices off with a flick, and bringing the other three near her. They weren't QUITE identical, mind, but she knew from experience with Professor Sprout that she'd likely accept any of the three for her test completion.
Hermione, however, was still going for the best, and soon began to shuffle the three around, testing each for a minute or more, before pushing one more to stand beside its rejected brothers, leaving her with two choices, of relatively equal measure. Relatively being the keyword in that description, as she placed both just where a sunbeam was striking the floor of the Great Hall, and then blew into them.
The way the soil glistened was her final clue, and she nodded as she caused the final rejection to slide away, and then, with a few words and a flick of her want, she gently pulled the sunflower from its pot, roots and all tenderly grasped by her magic, the dirt slowly but firmly knocked away so none of its original home would come and taint its new grounds, before she floated it over towards the offered pot.
She delicately then threaded the roots inside, using magic most subtle to churn and part the soil just enough for those tendrils of green to worm their way into the dirt. She smiled as she almost felt the plant sigh in joy as it gently took root in its new home, finally nodding at her work as the bottom of the stem was placed home, and with one final flick, she buried the bulb where the roots met, leaving the flower to look for all the world like it had never been anywhere but this pot.
Turning, she found Professor Sprout looked overawed, her face all but frozen for a long moment, that Hermione just enjoyed. It wasn't everyday, at least not anymore, that she could have this reaction from the Professors of Hogwarts, and so she let it go for the time it took Professor Sprout to finally shake herself awake, and with a few probing pokes of her wand, declared for the whole school that she would take the young witch as an apprentice right now…if not for knowing the other teachers would do the same.
Congratulating Hermione, she stepped out of the barrier, and the final professor entered, Professor McGonagall. Her face was a thing crafted of the finest ivory, showing not a single emotion as she strode forward, quickly looking over the pots that Professor Sprout had left, nodding at them, and then, with a flick of her wand, sending them, probably to one of the Hogwarts Greenhouses, though perhaps to Professor Sprout's office.
Regardless, she stood before Hermione, and then, without a word she began to work magic about her. The spell was complex, but it was also basic at the same time. A monitoring spell, nothing more, nothing less, but woven intricately so that it would show her something visually, rather than needing to ask questions. Soon, all around Hermione were wrapped lines of arithmetic equations that glowed as they slowly danced and moved.
Once that was done, Professor McGonagall used her magic to raise a pillar from the ground, same as Professor Flitwick. But she seemed to think better of it an instant later, causing the first to descend, and a second to rise. Then a third. Finally, huffing out her cheeks, she actually spoke a word this time, as she did a wand motion, and as the third left, a fourth rose up, however instead of a pillar of stone, one of salt rose from the ground.
It was, as had been Professor Flitwick's, merely a rectangular prism, smooth on all sides, and thanks to the light of the now early afternoon sun coming from one of the windows, it glittered like diamonds. The effect was absolutely stunning, and she barely registered as Professor McGonagall started to do something to the pillar, pointing at it with her want and slowly working some spellcraft on it.
Then, all at once, a piece of the pillar pulled away, rotated, and then slammed into the side, not spilling a single grain, as another, with a motion from her hand, did the same, and then another, then a half a dozen at once. Over the course of a minute Professor McGonagall had unmade the pillar in its entirety and placed each bit of it back, like a stack of blocks, but standing all wrong.
When she was done, she wasn't even tired. Her eyes were sharp, and focused, and she inspected each piece, making sure it was exactly what she wanted before turning to Hermione again, her face still that mask of ivory, as she explained her task was simple. Hermione would have to, using Transfiguration, restore the pillar of salt to its original form, every grain shifted back into the places from where they had come, without causing the pillar itself to collapse or spill.
That caught the young girl off guard. It was…like nothing she'd seen in ANY of the school textbooks she had been absorbing. In fact, she remembered only a few tomes even mentioning a technique like what she was being asked, and while it wasn't beyond a Second Year to perform the feat magically, it was still a shock to be asked something so off the wall by a teacher.
Still, Professor McGonagall wouldn't have set her an impossible task, as that was literally against the rules of the challenge. With that in mind she attacked the problem with her typical gusto, pointing her wand at the construct, but feeling nerves in her body go taunt every time she thought of casting a spell that might disrupt the thing before her, scattering it and thus losing her this challenge, and all that had come before, proving to Snape and his snakes that she was simply another muggleborn they could ignore.
She didn't back down, even after circling the thing for a full half an hour, before finally, with a sigh, she knelt down, sitting cross legged on the floor, and then focusing her magic into her wand, the tip of it starting to glow with the sheer amount of her strength she channeled into the tool. When she opened her eyes, she looked at the problem before her, and then, with a swirl, caused the whole of it to dissolve.
Not onto the floor, however. No, her motion raised the salt into the sky, the white grains creating a small snowstorm above her, the halo hanging in the air as she held it there, spinning about her form. Then, with a sigh, she began the process, her wand, held in one hand, moving with the grace and fluidity of a conductor's baton as she made a motion that was almost musical with the salt, causing it to 'fill' an invisible container before her.
Each grain fell neatly into place, plinking and plunking against the others, shifting and swirling to the point that none might have said that any single piece was as it should have been. And yet, when they looked, it took the shape that appeared correct, and the onlookers, even muffled by the barrier, could be heard raising their voices, some obviously not believing what they were seeing from a First Year.
When it was done, Hermione felt her body aching. It was draining to do it the way she had, converting each grain into lighter than air and then back again, but before her now stood the pillar of salt, exactly as it had first appeared. Many would have considered that alone a success, and Hermione herself felt that any of her fellow students would agree with that, but Professor McGonagall had posted her a specific challenge, and with her indicating she was done, the woman walked up to the pillar, and inspected it with her magic.
It took until the sun was just touching the horizon for the Professor to finish, and she said breathlessly that she was impressed. Her words were almost whispers, but Hermione beamed at the praise, as she nodded, and then exited the barrier, allowing Hermione to rise up as the thing shifted to black, indicating she was now invisible to those outside, letting her steady herself, and even drink a goblet handed to her by a house elf, who tittered at her thanks, before the barrier dropped, and she faced the judgement of her Professors.