Muggle
"This is ridiculous!"
Hermione glanced up as Justin slammed a pile of books on her desk. She had been studying quietly at a small table in the Hogwarts library. "Hello to you too, J," she laughed. "What's up?"
Justin sat down on her left. "There is a massive library in this building with books on Potions, spells, and all of this random magic stuff. But you know what they don't have? Literally anything muggle! No maths, no muggle history, no science - anything! How am I supposed to study for my GCSEs?!" he groaned.
"You're still studying for muggle school?" Hermione frowned.
"Have you seen the amount of jobs available in the wizarding world? There's practically nothing. Besides, if I'm going to be inducted into the Lords in five years, I need to have a full education," Justin groaned. "I stupidly assumed there would actually be muggle schoolbooks here. How am I supposed to study? Owls can't carry stacks and stacks of books!"
"I could ask my uncle Ted if he can drop some off," Hermione suggested.
Relief flooded Justin's face. "Would you? That would be a lifesaver," he nodded. "I can pay for books -"
"Oh nonsense," Hermione shook her head. "I might join you. The others might want to study for them as well."
"There you guys are!" Astrid dumped her History textbook on the table before leaning to whisper conspiratorially. "I think these people are mentally insane."
"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked curiously.
"They don't know who Hitler is," Astrid groaned. "They don't know about Apollo 11, or any important historical events. I asked Elyzabel Strahan and she didn't even know who the Queen is."
"This is ridiculous," Hermione sighed. "They hate on us for not understanding pureblooded culture when most of them wouldn't be able to tell us who the Prime Minister is."
"Exactly!" Justin exclaimed. "Dizzy, you want to join us in studying muggle subjects?"
Astrid nodded eagerly. "Absolutely Tiny! If I study muggle subjects, I might actually keep my logic and brain cells," she said.
"Dizzy and Tiny?" Hermione questioned.
"We hate basic nicknames," Justin waved it away. "Anyway, we were talking bad about the pureblooded society."
Hermione covered her mouth to muffle her laughter, leaning into Astrid's shoulder. "Are you good?" the other girl chuckled.
"Fine," Hermione swallowed her laughter. "Okay then. Let's grab a little list."
Uncle Ted delivered the books a week later, and Manaia, Hazel, Roland, Dean, Justin, Hermione, and Astrid began to meet five times a week to study muggle and wizarding topics. Their little group helped a lot with study, given their range of subjects. Between them, they had everything covered.
Dean's best subject was Charms. Manaia quickly became one of the best Potions students, not that Professor Snape would admit it. Justin was best at Transfiguration, so he took charge of that subject. Astrid took control of Herbology lessons, while Hazel was best at Defense Against the Dark Arts (not the trash taught in class). Roland had a strong interest in the History of the wizarding world, so he covered that. As for Hermione, she would disgrace the House of Black if she let her friends fail Astronomy.
As for the muggle subjects, Roland was a mathematics prodigy and years ahead of the others. Hermione was half caught up to him since Eudoria didn't exactly follow the curriculum. Everyone was taking Sciences, English, French, and mathematics, as well as other GCSE subjects, nine or ten in total. If anyone was concerned with the workload, they didn't voice it.
Except for Manaia. Every. Single. Day.
Her hatred of the extra studying (which she voiced at any opportunity) was only slightly less irritating than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley.
The two of them thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure and were keen for another one. They were haunting the library, trying to figure out what was under the trapdoor. Hermione had decided to ignore the two, which was harder than she expected. It took all of her self-control (and she had quite a lot, so this was perfect evidence of just how insufferable the two were) not to lock them in a box and ship them off to Australia.
All of her self-control flew out the window after a week. Hermione was on her way to the Great Hall with Justin and Astrid when the latest gossip was passed down the table: Harry Potter had been sent a mysterious parcel and left immediately after.
"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. He has a broom. Any idiot would be able to tell. A broom-shaped package could be so many things," Halley leaned over to whisper.
"Oh for god sack," Hermione stood up. This was getting ridiculous. The two of them were practically begging to get expelled. They sought danger out at any opportunity, trying to break into a place that was clearly dangerous and that they had been warned against on day one. And now he had bought a broom despite their letter stating explicitly that first years weren't allowed.
"I thought you were ignoring them?" Maliana frowned.
"Well, I can't exactly do that if they are thrown out of school," Hermione sighed. "I will be back soon."
"Have fun," Halley waved. "If you're not back in time, I'll wrap you a croissant."
Hermione headed back up the marble staircase. She managed to catch up to the two by taking several secret passageways that her mother had told her about, and emerged right behind them at the top of the stairs. Both boys were laughing, and Harry had a long obviously wrapped broomstick in his hand.
"Well, it's true," Harry was saying. "If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be in the team ..."
"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" Hermione said angrily, casting a glare at the 'mysterious' package in Harry's hand.
"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" Harry said.
"Yes, don't stop now," Ron said. "It's doing us so much good."
Hermione scoffed and turned away, walking off. Those two were complete idiots. If they were going to get themselves killed, she wouldn't let herself get dragged down with them.
Besides, it's not really her that they are finding annoying, right? Technically, Enola wasn't the one everyone hated on so much, Hermione was.
But Enola was the one saying everything, doing everything, influencing people in certain ways. So, isn't she Hermione too? Where does Hermione end and Enola begin? Eudoria said she would regret it, and Enola should have listened to her. What was the point in doing all of this if she didn't get to be herself? Who even was she...?
"-anger!"
Hermione snapped out of her daze. She'd been endlessly wandering the halls, barely paying attention to where she was going. Apparently she had walked straight into the banes of Hogwarts.
"Welcome back to the present, Granger," Left Twin grinned at her, but there was a glint of something in his eyes, like pity.
"Is everything okay?" Right Twin asked sympathetically.
"What?" Hermione froze when the twin reached forward and plucked a tear from her face. Hermione hadn't even realized she was crying.
"Is it our brother? He's being a right di-douche," the Left twin guided her to a bench and sat on her left while Right Twin squashed her in the middle by sitting on her right. "We can talk to him, if it's affecting you."
"It's not that - well, it is, kinda," Hermione buried her head in her hands. "I can't- I can't talk about it."
"That's okay," Right Twin wrapped an arm around her in a side-hug. "Do you want to talk about something else? How are classes going?"
A wave of fury rushed over Hermione, and she shrugged him away. "Is that all there is to me? Do you all just see me as that study-crazy muggleborn? Schoolwork and classes and trying too hard?" she exclaimed.
"I didn't mean it like that," Right Twin said quickly. "It's almost been a month and a half since you got here. I just wanted to know how you were adjusting and everything."
Hermione took a deep breath. Of course she was overthinking things. They didn't mean any harm.
"It's not just our brother, is it?" Left Twin asked softly. "He's not this bad. Not even him."
"He's not. It's not just him. I just..." Hermione mouthed the words, but couldn't bring herself to say anything. "I feel like... I'm putting an act on all the time, and for what? Is this worth it? Is any of this worth it?"
The twins exchanged a look. "We can't really answer that. Unlike you, we don't exactly have anywhere else to go. You're lucky, in that fact. You can always leave for the muggle world if you wished."
Hermione scoffed. "And they'd say worse things about muggleborns after I leave than they already do. 'Oh, the poor muggleborn couldn't handle the pureblooded society'. Me leaving - any of us muggleborns - leaving Hogwarts before we have taken our O.W.L.s will only cause every single pureblooded too look down on muggleborns more than they already do. Leaving is never an option."
Hermione stood up, wiping her cheeks. "Thank you for sitting with me, but I don't think you two are in any position to understand the amount of pressure we are under, and I don't think you ever will. Have a good afternoon," she breathed, before hurrying off and ducking into the first secret passage she found to catch her breath.
Why did she even talk to them? Those two boys were the pranksters and jokesters of Hogwarts. They never took anything seriously, not even serious topics like the ones Hermione had just blurted out. She would be the laughing stock by the end of the day.
This was exactly what she was trying to avoid. All of the gawkers and gossipers would notice the resemblance instantly, and all of this would've been for nothing. It had barely been a few months since this farce was created, and it was already eating her up inside. How was she going to do this?
Hermione had been pushed to her limit. By the time Hallowe'en rolled around, she was at her breaking point.
Not that anyone really noticed. From anyone else's point of view, Hermione was just stressed from her studies. If she snapped, or seemed more testy than usual, it was probably just because she was stressed about keeping us in this new world. Nobody except Argent seemed to notice her lack of an appetite. Nobody except Argent seemed to care she was going through the day surviving on a sandwich and a couple bites from dinner.
On Hallowe'en morning, Hermione woke to the nauseating smell of pumpkin. She had barely been able to eat without feeling like she was going to puke since the day the broom arrived.
Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something everyone had been dying to try since they first saw the charm in use. He put the class in pairs, and Hermione found herself paired with Ron, who she hadn't spoken to since the day the broom arrived.
"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" Flitwick squeaked, perched on top of his pile of books as usual. "Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest."
Hermione had practiced the spell numerous times with Argent over the last few days, levitating glass vases and smashing them against the wall before Argent repaired them and they did it again. It was very therapeutic. Hermione knew she would be able to do the spell first try, but didn't feel like arguing with Ron. It wasn't worth it.
Nobody who was trying was having any bit of luck. Argent hadn't even bothered to take out her wand and was just helping Neville with his.
Hermione had intended on waiting until someone else had succeeded, but desperate times. Ron was waving his long arms like a windmill and severly mispronouncing the words. "Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted.
Hermione reached forward to stop him. "You're saying it wrong," she snapped. "It's Winggar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the "gar" nice and long."
"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled.
Fine. If he was going to be that way. Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Her feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.
"Oh, well done!" Flitwick cried, clapping. "Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!"
Hermione dropped her feather onto her desk and looked up at Argent, who suddenly mastered the spell and levitated her feather into the air.
"Well done, Miss Kildare," Flitwick applauded.
Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of class. Hermione wound herself up behind him and Harry as they exited. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor. "She's a nightmare, honestly."
Hermione's facade fell, and tears fell down her cheeks. She clutched her textbooks to her chest and pushed past Harry, running to the girl's bathroom and pressing herself into the corner of an empty stall.
Why had she done this? Why had she even bothered? It was destroying her completely. The truth would've been better than this fake life she had created for herself. All she had succeeded in was driving everyone away. Being manipulated and used, being married off and gawked at, or being alienated and despised. There was no way to win. Maybe Enola should have just stayed home. Her life was perfect until Hogwarts ruined it.
The door opened after a minute. "Hermione? Are you in here?" Halley called. Hermione pressed her hand against her mouth and nose to muffle her silent sobs. "Are you sure she came in here?"
"Yeah, I saw her," Maliana's voice drifted in.
The stall door creaked open, and the two girls looked into find Hermione shaking in the corner. "M!" Halley rushed over. "Are you okay?"
Hermione tried to tell them to leave, but her voice failed. "M, breathe with me okay?" Maliana grabbed Hermione's hands and pulled them away from the girl's face. "Kay? We're going to count back from one hundred in threes. Just repeat after me. One hundred."
Hermione's hands shook, and she choked the words out in a soft whisper. "One hundred."
"Ninety-seven," Maliana continued.
"Ninety-seven," Hermione repeated.
They continued down to one. Hermione took a deep breath, wiping away her tears. "Are you okay?" Halley asked softly.
"I'm fine," Hermione breathed shakily. "You can go back to class now."
"Are you kidding?" Maliana exclaimed, before taking a deep breath. "You think we're just going to leave you here after you are very clearly bothered?" she asked in forced patience.
"Yes," Hermione nodded.
"Well then you are clearly insane," Maliana shook her head before a solemn expression spread across her face. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Nope," Hermione pushed past them, leaning against the basins. "I... I can't. I just can't, okay? I can't talk about it."
"You aren't going to be a burden, Mione. Just talk to us, please. I can't watch you destroy yourself any longer," Halley pleaded.
She had noticed. Someone other than Argent had actually noticed the self-destructive staircase Hermione had thrown herself down.
But it's not as if they could do anything. It's not as if Hermione could ever actually tell her everything that is wrong.
"You wouldn't understand. Just go away, please," Hermione pressed her lips together.
Go away go away go away
Please just leave me alone
"No," Maliana moved to her side. Hermione looked away from the puppy eyes her cousin was giving her. God, Mal would be so mad if she found out Hermione was lying. It had only been two months, but still. This wasn't something that you can get over in a minute, it wasn't something you could move on from. Telling her wasn't an option, but it was inevitable.
"Do you know -" Hermione cut herself off, digging her nails into her arms. "I... I can't. I just can't. It's too hard."
"Hey," Halley draped an arm across her shoulder. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."
The three girls didn't leave the bathroom for the rest of the day. Parvati and Lavender had came in, but had left soon after. Argent, Manaia, Astrid, and Hazel had all stopped by to comfort her, but Hermione insisted they leave for their study session and that she'd be fine. Argent had gone to get the three food from dinner, although she wouldn't return until after she'd eaten something herself.
Halley, Maliana, and Hermione were currently sitting on the floor playing Uno, which Hermione swore never again to play with Halley. Maliana and Halley had cast cleaning spells over the place first, given the disgusting nature of bathrooms and teenage girls.
Hermione had been feeling slightly better, but didn't feel like leaving until Argent was back and the Tower would be empty. Hermione didn't feel like putting up with Ron anymore than she had to.
Halley was just about to win for the thirteenth time when she paused, sniffing slightly. "Can you smell something?" she frowned. Hermione sniffed, and a foul stench of rotting flesh and testosterone.
"What is that? Not even sweaty teenage boys smell that bad," Hermione frowned. Halley swept the cards into her hand and pulled all three of them into one of the stalls and locking the door.
No sooner had they gotten in than low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet entered the bathroom. Hermione looked over the stall and gasped.
It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small baldhead perched on top like a coconut. It had short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.
"Is that a troll?" Halley whispered.
"We're going to have to run for it," Hermione hissed back, grabbing the stall's lock and preparing to open it. "Ready? 3... 2...1"
Hermione opened the door as the bathroom door slammed shut and locked. The girls froze. They were trapped.
The troll started towards the stall, and all three girls scrambled as far back as they could. Maliana let out a scream as the club swung towards her, barely moving out of the way in time.
"Run!" Hermione ducked under the club and ran to the far end of the bathroom. Halley and Maliana hurried after her, and the troll started towards them. There was another loud clank and the bathroom door opened.
Harry and Ron ran in, looking terrified at the scene before them. The troll was advancing on the girls, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went. "Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and seizing a tap he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.
The troll stopped a few feet from the girls. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry. It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.
"Ohh, he's gonna die," Hermione whispered under her breath.
"Oy, pea-brain!" Ron yelled from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.
"Come on, run, run!" Harry yelled at the girls, trying to pull Halley towards the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.
The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.
Screw it. This was the most pathetic rescue attempt Hermione had ever seen. If something was going to save them, it would have to be Eudoria's expertise. Hermione snatched a shard of a broken tile off the ground and charged at the troll, propelling herself onto the troll's back and scrambling up to his head. She stabbed the tile into his back and slid down, slitting his body open as she fell. Hermione landed on her feet and the troll collapsed, blood pouring out.
Halley, Maliana, Harry, and Ron were all staring at her with their jaws dropped. Hermione glanced down to see she was covered in troll blood.
"How did you do that?" Halley asked, her eyes wide with shock and thrill.
Hermione simply shrugged. "I told you. I exercise," she said. That was not going to be good enough given these four curious nutters.
"Okay, that's not it," Maliana corrected. They really weren't going to give this up, were they?
"My mother taught me jujutsu," Hermione sighed, fed up with the questions. "Now are you all just going to stand there or is someone going to get a teacher?"
They didn't need to, because they'd made such a racket that the teachers already knew. McGonagall, Snape and Quirrell burst into the room, gasping at the sight of the bleeding out troll and the bloody weapon in Hermione's hand.
"What on earth happened?!" McGonagall asked.
"I stabbed the troll in the back with a broken tile piece," Hermione said calmly, letting the marble clatter to the floor.
All three teachers stared at her. "What?" Snape asked.
"I stabbed the troll," Hermione repeated slower. Honestly, were they slow? "Are we done here? I have troll blood all over me and are in desperate need of a shower."
The teachers were so shocked, so Hermione pulled everyone out of the bathroom and made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. None of the other four uttered a word.
The common room was packed and noisy, but everyone stopped, looking over at the sight of Hermione covered in blood.
"What happened?" Percy exclaimed, walking over.
"Hermione stabbed the troll and it was like all bleeding out on the floor all disgusting and unconscious," Maliana grinned, getting over her temporary muteness.
Eyes fell upon the Hermione, and she went pink with the attention. "Seriously!" Parvati gasped.
"You missed the part where she leapt onto the troll's back and," Halley mimed the stabbing action and grinned.
"Hermione did that? Stabbed a troll?" Dean repeated. What is he so surprised about? He's met Eudoria.
"Don't sound so surprised. Now if you excuse me, I need a very long shower," Hermione went upstairs. She'd barely been in her dorm for a second when Argent came in and wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Arg, I'm drenched in troll blood," Hermione reminded her, but the other girl didn't let go. Hermione relaxed into the hug, leaning her head on the other girl's shoulder. "I'm okay. It's okay."