Seek and find
The prefects led us from the great hall and down the stairs towards the dungeons which is apparently where Slytherin house as well as a few classes were located.
We came to an empty chamber that had snakes tiled into the floor and at the wall the prefect said “ambitiose callidus” and a rock snake arched up revealing a door which we all quickly passed through.
The door led to the common room which was massive, one wall was completely made of glass and there were tons of chairs and sofas adorned throughout the room in various shades of green and grey and at least 10 fire places.
“The girls dormitories are down this hall to the right while the boys are down that hall to the left, first years dorms will be closest to the common room. You’ll find that your things have already been brought down. You may go get settled in but be back in here in the common room at 8 to meet with Professor Snape.” Announced the prefect who I heard Draco refer to as Farley.
I went with the other girls to our new dorm. Only three other girls had been sorted into Slytherin. Daphne Greengrass seemed to be the nicest, she’s the one that said my blood status didn’t matter cause I was a Slytherin. Like me, she has long curly hair but where mine is Dark and bushy hers is blonde and sleek. Her blue eyes meet mine and she smiled at me when she realized I had been admiring her curls, “My mum gets me a special conditioning potion for my hair, you’re welcome to try it, if you’d like.” She offers.
“That sounds lovely, thank you!” I responded excitedly.
That’s when I heard the other two girls, a petite girl with black hair named Pansy Parkinson and a tall girl with brown hair named Millicent Bulstrode, sniggering about how wild my hair is. I quickly turned away and set to unpacking my trunk.
At 7:45 I made my way to the common room where I saw all the older students near the glass wall listening to the man with black hair and black robes that had clapped when I was sorted, this must be Professor Snape. I spot Draco sitting on a sofa on the opposite side of the room with Neville and I quietly make my way over to them.
When I walked up both boys stood up and didn’t sit down again until I did, then they picked their conversation back up.
“I’m telling you, sometimes the merpeople in the black lake will swim by.” Said Draco.
Neville responded, “my mum told me there was a giant squid in there, but she didn’t say anything about the merpeople.”
My eyes widened in curiosity, “You two seem to know a lot about Hogwarts.” I said.
“My parents used to tell me stories when I was younger.” Draco replied.
“My dad used to tell me stories about some of his jobs, he’s an auror at the DMLE.” Responded Neville.
“Have you ever been to the ministry?” I asked, “I’ve read loads about the Ministry of Magic in London and I’ve been dying to see it.” Draco and Neville shared a look and chuckled before confirming they’d both been often with their parents.
It was getting closer to the meeting time when the rest of the first years joined us in our area of the common room. We were all chatting quietly when Professor Snape cleared his throat. He looked to be around the same age as Professor Evans. He had long black hair, a hooked nose and wore an expression of indifference as he addressed us.
“If you’ve all read the handbook, which I’m sure you have, you know curfew is from ten at night until six in the morning. If any of you is caught out past curfew you will find yourselves scrubbing cauldrons.” He said eyeing us all intimidatingly before he continued, “You’ll all do your best to avoid the caretaker, Argus Filtch and his cat Mrs.Norris as well as the poltergeist, Peeves.”
He looked us all over again before continuing with a sneer, “I expect you all to uphold the values of our noble house, follow the rules and earn us points to win the house cup, for a seventh year in a row.”
“Lastly,” he said “These are your time tables, classes start tomorrow. Don’t be late.” as he handed out a stack of parchment that he had pulled from his robes and un-shrank before he sent us off to bed.
The first few weeks of classes passed by quickly. I loved transfiguration, I was the first in our shared class with ravenclaw that managed to turn my match into a needle. History of magic, which was taught by a ghost was easy cause it mainly consisted of taking notes and writing essays. Defence against the dark arts was one of my least favourite classes, the professor seemed to keep a lot of garlic around and kept his classroom quite dark and stuffy.
I found I quite liked charting the stars during our nighttime astronomy class, Draco always pointed out the constellations he knew. Charms seemed easy enough as long as you had your wand movement down and annunciated the spell properly. Potions was also meticulous, so far I’ve learned that the preparation of potions ingredients is one of the most important steps in the brewing process.
On September 19th I woke up to my new friend Daphne smiling at me as she handed me a wrapped gift, “Happy birthday!” She exclaimed.
I smiled as I opened the parcel,” I told my mum about your hair and she helped me get you a custom hair potion that should help you tame those curls!” She said as I examined the lilac liquid. “The effects are meant to last for a month so this should be enough for at least a year.” She added.
I smiled as I hugged and thanked her. She had tried to help me tame my curls before but her potion didn’t seem to work on my hair.
This new potion seemed to help a little bit, but my curls seem to have a mind of their own most days. I quickly got dressed and Daphne and I made our way down to the common room where we found Draco, Neville and their dorm mate Blaise Zabini waiting for us. Blaise, a tall dark and handsome Italian wizard, was the only other boy in our year who showed me any kindness. The other first year boys in Slytherin, Theo Nott, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, are always sneering at or making fun of me when they see me alone. So I do my best not to be caught by myself.
The five of us headed down to breakfast. I sat with Draco and Neville on either side of me and Daphne and Blaise took the seats across from us. A few moments after taking my seat a cupcake with a small candle appeared on my plate. I looked around to see where it came from when professor Evans caught my eye. She gave me a smile and wink then mouthed Happy Birthday. I nodded back to her in thank you before I noticed someone had lit the candle. I quickly made a wish and blew it out.
“How come you didn’t tell us it was your birthday?” Asked Draco as he eyed my cupcake.
“It’s not really a big deal, just another day.” I responded coolly, “Besides, I told Daphne.”
Draco gave Daphne a why didn’t you say anything look and she just shrugged and said, “I thought you already knew.”
He then turned to me and said, “Birthdays are special, if we had known we would’ve done something.” Neville and Blaise nodded in agreement.
“Really, I don’t need anything else, but thank you.” I said smiling, for the first time I felt like I really had friends.
After breakfast was over, we collected our things and headed off to our first class of the day, double potions with the Gryffindor’s.
When we arrived at potions we took our seats, Draco sat next to me while Daphne and Neville took the seats across. I was unpacking my supplies when Weasley entered the room going on about some cannons.
“I’m telling you, Seamus, the Cannons are the absolute best.” Ron boasted loudly as they took their seats.
He started rattling off, what I assume was, quidditch stats to the other Gryffindor boys at his table. He was still talking after Professor Snape had entered and shut the door.
“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making.” He said, glaring down at Weasley. “I don’t expect you to really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses. I could teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you weren’t such a dunderhead.”
Weasley shrank down into his chair, ”What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” Professor Snape asked in a bored tone.
I knew the answer so immediately shot my hand into the air. Draco looked over at me and just shook his head. I quickly put my hand back down and after a few more seconds with no answer, professor Snape asked another question. “Let’s try again. Weasley, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?”
Weasley just stared up at him without an answer. He tried again, “What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?”
At this point I was practically sitting on my hand. All of his questions were in our textbook One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, anyone who had bothered to read it could answer those questions.
“I don’t know,” Weasley snapped. “I think Granger does, though, why don’t you try her?”
Professor Snape looked up to me, assessing my position and drawled, “well?”
I cleared my throat and confidently answered, “Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it can save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite.”
“Well? Why aren’t you all copying that down?” He said in response then looked over to Weasley, “a point will be taken from Gryffindor house for your cheek.” Then turning back to me he added, “take 5 points for Slytherin, miss Granger.”
The rest of the lesson seemed to be going by pretty smoothly, professor Snape split us up into pairs to work on a simple potion to cure boils.
Suddenly clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Weasley had somehow managed to melt Potter’s cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was seeping across the floor and burning holes in everyone’s shoes. A few moments later, everyone was standing on their stools while Weasley, who had been covered in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.
“You idiot boy!” snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. “I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?”
Weasley just groaned in response.
“Take him up to the hospital wing,” Snape spat out at Weasley’s friend, Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry, who had been working on preparing the ingredients. “Potter, why didn’t you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he’d make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That’s another point lost for Gryffindor.”
I thought this was completely unfair, why should Harry be responsible for what his housemate does? I was about to open my mouth to say something but caught Daphne’s eye who just shook her head and whispered, “don’t push it, I’ve heard he can be nasty to the other houses.” Draco went over to Potter and helped put away the rest of the ingredients.
Once the class was dismissed, Harry joined us on our walk to lunch. “Hey Hermione, happy birthday.” He said as he handed me an envelope, “my mum asked me to give this to you.”
We stopped while I quickly opened it and found a birthday card as well as an invitation this afternoon for tea with professor Evans.
“Thank you.” I said as we made our way upstairs for lunch. After we arrived at the great hall, we took seats at our respective tables.
All anyone had been talking about this morning was the flyer that had been pinned up on the bulletin board announcing flying lessons in a couple weeks. Lunch proved to be no different. While we ate, Draco and Blaise were comparing flying stories while Daphne, Neville and I discussed our homework for charms.
After Charms I headed back down to my dorm to change, I was meeting the professor at three, which gave me about twenty minutes. I quickly changed out of my school clothes, donning my favourite Queen t-shirt, my denim’s and my jumper. I slipped into my trainers and set off.
As I left my common room I could hear Nott laughing and saying something about pets and peasants. I ignored him and quickly made my way to the muggle studies classroom.
Professor Evans’ office was decorated with both magical and muggle photos. There were also a few band posters on the walls. When I noticed the Queen one, I smiled and removed my jumper. The professor offered me tea and biscuits as I sat down across from her desk and then asked me how I was liking Hogwarts so far.
When I thanked her for the cupcake this morning she smiled at me and squeezed my hand, “ I know what it’s like to celebrate a birthday here as a muggleborn, Hermione.”
She pulled back and set to making herself another cuppa before continuing, “My parents were never able to send things through the owl post. But lucky for me , my best friend came with me to Hogwarts and he always made sure I had at least one cupcake on my birthday. I thought I should pay it forward now that I’m a teacher.”
We continued to chat when I noticed a newspaper clipping that must have fallen off the professors desk. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet. I picked it up and read:
GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 15 August, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown. Gringotts’ goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. ‘But we’re not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what’s good for you,’ said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.
August 15th? That was the day I got my wand, the day I visited diagon alley and Gringotts. Surprised I looked over to Professor Evans and said, “professor, This Gringotts break-in happened the day we went to the bank! It might’ve been happening while we were there!”
She didn’t meet my eye, instead she just brushed it off and offered me more tea.
The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Technically, Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, when he got that small package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for? This question seemed to haunt me for the rest of the day.
A sunny Friday morning in October brought with it our first flying lesson. The boys escorted Daphne and I up to breakfast, it was starting to feel like a routine. I also noticed how they’d all remain standing until we were seated, like they’d all been trained for nobility.
Over breakfast I shared all the tips I had read about in Quidditch through the Ages with Daphne and Neville. I was interrupted when a small package from Neville’s grandmother was delivered by a barn owl. He opened it excitedly and showed us a glass ball the size of a large marble, full of what looked like white smoke.
“It’s a Remembrall!” he explained. “My Gran knows I forget things, this will tell you if there’s something you’ve forgotten to do. Look, you squeeze it tight like this and if it turns red-” His face fell, because it had suddenly changed from white to a scarlet red, “-it means you’ve forgotten something.”
Neville looked deep in thought, trying to remember what he could have forgot when Theo Nott sat down next to him and plucked the rememberall from his hands. “You should keep a better grip on your things, Longbottom.” He said playing carelessly with the rememberall before sneering at me as he said, ”Wouldn’t want to lose them.” Then he tossed it over to Neville, who just barely caught it, and exited the great hall.
20 minutes before lessons started we found ourselves in the courtyard where about 20 school brooms had been laid out in two rows. Draco and Blaise pointed out the brooms that were less dinged up than the others and helped Daphne and I pick out which brooms we would use for the lesson.
“I bet it was his robes, I don’t think he was wearing it this morning,” Daphne said as we waited.
Everyone was lined up next to their brooms by the time Neville arrived, wearing his robes. He had gone back to the dorms to see if it would help him figure it out. He lined up next to the last available broom and then Madam Hooch was blowing her whistle and giving out instructions.
The instructions seemed pretty clear but I could see a lot of people struggling to get their brooms to follow their command. Neville’s broom seemed to be particularly nasty, it had whacked him in the head the first time he said “up”. Soon enough we were all ready to mount our brooms.
I was a bit nervous about flying so I hesitated when Madam Hooch instructed us to lift off, I watched in horror as Neville’s broom kept rising until he suddenly fell off it and the broom shot towards the forbidden forest. Madam hooch quickly arrived at his side and assessed that he had broken his wrist.
“I’m going to escort Mr Longbottom to the infirmary, keep your brooms on the ground.” She said before she turned to usher Neville to the hospital wing.
Nott walked over to where Neville had been and picked up Neville’s rememberall. He went to put it in his pocket when Harry said, “Give that here, Theo.”
Nott laughed and mounted his broom, “You’ll have to catch me first.” Then he shot up 20 metres and started tossing it around. Harry quickly mounted his broom.
When he got close to Nott he shouted, “Give it back or I’ll knock you off your broom.”
Nott responded, “oh yeah? How about a game of catch?” Then he threw it.
I couldn’t look away, Harry was shooting across the courtyard, I thought for sure he was going to crash into the tower but then he somehow caught the rememberall and pulled away before he could hit the wall.
When both boys landed I was furious. Nott put Harry in danger for no reason. I stormed up to him and shouted, “what is wrong with you?”
He sneered at me, looked over at Draco and Harry and said, “your pets getting out of line,” he looked back at me before finishing “She doesn’t seem to know her place.”
Without a second thought I had lifted my hand and slapped him across the face. It was at that exact moment that Professor McGonagall was rushing across the field towards us. She quickly assessed the situation and gave both Knott and I detention before leaving with Harry.
Instead of getting detention Harry was put on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. This cause Draco to be quite moody and complain often that it wasn’t fair that he hadn’t even been allowed to try out.
That Saturday evening after dinner I reported to the trophy room for my detention, apparently I had to shine the trophies without magic. I went up to the dingiest one that read Awarded to Tom Riddle for special services to the school and got busy shining it up.
A few hours later I was being shaken awake by Draco and Harry. Apparently I had fallen asleep and when I hadn’t returned to the common room before curfew Draco had gone and got Harry to help him find me.
Harry had an invisibility cloak and he threw it over all of us, we were about to leave when we heard Filtch outside the open door. At the other end of the trophy room was another door but I wasn’t sure where it led. I gestured towards it and we walked silently to it. Draco tried the handle and turned to us, “it’s locked” he whispered.
I quickly pulled out my wand, stuck my hand out of the cloak and whispered, “Alohamora.” There was a quiet click then I opened the door.
“Nice spell.” Harry said in a whisper.
“Standard book of spells,” I replied quietly.
The door led to an empty corridor that we didn’t recognize, we decided to go right. At the end of the corridor was another locked door, Harry pulled out his wand, mimicking the unlocking spell then we entered. It was a dark room and there was a loud noise that sounded kind of like snoring.
“Lumos,” said Draco.
There was a big huffing noise before the cloak was blown back and we were standing face to face with a sleeping Cerberus. I quickly scanned the room for any possible exits but besides the door we had come from and the small one under its paw, there were no other ways in or out.
Harry quickly grabbed the cloak as I shoved the boys back through the door then I used every locking spell I knew to lock it back up.
We were all panting when Draco said, “what are they thinking, keeping a thing like that in a school?”
I rolled my eyes, “didn’t you see the door it was standing on?”
Harry perked up, “you think it’s guarding something?” I don’t think I was imagining the excitement he had about discovering something that had been hidden.
I glared, “I’d rather get to bed before we get caught or eaten.” I said gesturing at the door behind him.
We made our way to the other end of the corridor and quickly found ourselves on the staircase. We had been in the restricted third floor corridor. At least now I knew why it was restricted. That giant dog is guarding something.
Harry led us down to the dungeons under the invisibility cloak before he made the trek back to Gryffindor tower. Draco and I entered Slytherin then quickly set off for our own dorms. As I laid in bed that night I wondered what that dog could possibly be guarding, when it hit me, its obviously there to guard that object Hagrid had retrieved that day at Gringotts.