Hermione
After the last night, she was quite wary of her housemates, the hat had said that she would flourish in Slytherin but she could not see how except that she would be pushed very hard to defend herself from their housemates.
"Harry", she greeted her only friend
"Hermione", he said smiling
"Let's get going to the Library Harry", she said eyeing a few of her housemates
"Yeah, before they decide to blast us apart, I have seen several older students eyeing me with malice though I doubt they would try anything, apparently after we got beaten up Snape showed up and warned the house that the headmaster was looking after us and would not tolerate us being bullied but I think it would still do us good to learn few spells to defend ourselves", Harry said
"Yes, though I am happy that some adults are looking after us", she replied
Both of them set out towards the library
(One hour later)
They had compiled a list of books on self-defence and duelling and had looked into a few, though most of the spells were well beyond their level for the moment. Harry had taught her the Body bind and Leg locker jinx, and she had managed to find two spells that they could probably cast. One was the disarming charm, and the other was the Averto shield charm, which would allow them to sawt away spells like they were with a table tennis racket.
"Mmm… all this list is alright but we need to know the theory behind these spells, not that it is necessary but it would help", she said to Harry who hummed
"Oookay, Herms", Harry replied
She ignored the nickname and continued to read the chapter on Disarming Charm and began writing notes on it while Harry went over Averto or as he liked to call it Spell swatter.
(Two Hours Later)
"We need to leave this very moment Hermione or else we are going to be late for Transfiguration", Harry said
"Oh, is it eleven already?", she asked with her brow furrowed as she completed her notes
"No, but we only have ten minutes and I think I don't need to tell you that class starts at eleven and we have to reach the class beforehand", Harry said
"Oh yes", she said distractedly but was startled when Harry ripped apart the book from her gaze and repeated the whole thing again.
"Yes yes let's go", she said flustered
On their way to classes, they managed to get lost but with the help of a few older students they managed to just make it to classes just two minutes before the class started, Harry's Brother Jim Potter was late but received nothing but a mild scolding and was soon seated across them and shooting both her and Harry a sneer. But soon enough the class started
"Now class the art of transfiguration is very exacting and quite hard, there is very little spell casting and yet it is the hardest of any branch but most rewarding of any branch as well, if you are able to master the art of Transfiguration then the only thing limiting you is your imagination", explained Professor McGonagall
"Now we shall start by first understanding the concepts underlying Transfiguration and the limitations of it and then you shall try your hands with wands. Now everyone open up your books and read the first chapter then I am going to explain it", Professor McGonagall told the class and she began to read
After an hour of reading discussion and thoroughly enjoyable class, She and Harry made their way to Charms class where a very excitable Professor Flitwick explained to them the utility of charms and tried their hands on casting Lumos and Nox which most of the class was able to do by the end of the first session.
After Transfiguration and Charms, they ate their Lunch in a Hurry and made their way to Defence against the Dark Arts or as everyone called it DADA and finally after a gruelling day of classes they once again ended up in the library.
"Guh I am so tired of reading let's try a hand at something real", Harry said
"Not in here, we are not allowed to cast spells inside the Library…", she started
"Of course, not I am not dumb nuts I read the board outside as well we go to an empty class", Harry said rolling his eyes
(Few Hours Later)
She had managed to cast Both Body Bind and Leg locker with the help of Harry and they had managed to cast Expeliarmus as well though neither could get a hang of Averto, Harry had managed but had failed in every succeeding attempt which brought little comfort to either of them.
"That is it for today I think we can only do so much in a day", She said
"Yeah", Harry replied, "I think it would be quite nice if we explore the castle a little bit then eat the dinner and retire for the day"
"Yeah, that sounds good, Harry"
(The next week)
After a bunch of classes where She and Harry did quite well earning a total of twenty house points throughout the week, they ended up spending most of the time in the library and managing to shortlist spells they might need in future and mastering Averto and their small list of spells they knew. Afterwards, they completed their homework and did all they could to avoid their housemates surprisingly had gone well. With the end of the first week approaching things hadn't been so bad, except for that one instance, they at most had got a few looks and threats but that was all, the warning left by Professor Snape had definitely helped.