Chapter 1
Hermione half listened to her parents as they kept talking, choosing to instead use her attention surveying the platform. “Make sure to make lots of new friends.” One boy had a dog with an honest to God forked tail. “I’m sure there will be other kids with non-magical parents as well.”
“Mum, the term is muggle.”
“Yes dear, but don’t you think that just sounds so negative.” She was surprised there wasn’t more magic visible on the platform. Really everything seemed very mundane other than the people, unusual fashions and cages full of animals abounded. “Maybe that boy we came through the barrier with. His father worked at the bank of England, seems like a good family.”
“Dad all he talks about was how he was going to go to Eton before he got in here.”
“He might have just thought that was a relatable conversation.” She was not impressed by that line of reasoning. “Well, I’m sure there are more options.” Before the conversation could continue any longer or become any more invasive, she gave both her parents each a tight squeeze of a hug. “Love you, I’ll write you as much as I can” Without waiting for a response she ducked away and rushed towards the scarlet engine, weaving through the disorderly throngs of people.
She might have been a little bit too brief with her goodbyes she reflected as she ducked under the arm of a tall man carrying a basket with a cat in it. She would probably regret not saying more after a couple months away from home, but how could she loiter around when she was surrounded by excitement.
She squeezed her trunk between two teenagers levitating trunks in front of them and ducked through a low floating plume of steam, the cloud seemingly non-tangible. Well, that answered her question about a magical train producing steam. It seemed to be just an illusion. Dragging her trunk up the steps she entered the train.
Despite the large commotion out on the platform, she was one of the first to actually board the vehicle, most people too busy saying goodbye to parents or hello to friends they hadn’t seen over the summer. Perfect she would be able to grab a good compartment. Dragging her trunk a little down the car she was in, she avoided the room clearly marked for prefects and claimed one a few compartments down, sticking her trunk up against the wall under the window. There was no way she was going to manage to get the titanic thing into the rack by herself.
The car, like the platform outside certainly appeared regal, all polished brass fixings and smooth leather seats. But, like the platform outside she was again disappointed by the apparent lack of magic. When she had learned all there was to know, she wouldn’t abide anything she made being anything less than a wonder.
She pulled out her copy of A Beginner’s Guide to Transfiguration and settled in for the ride. She had of course already read the textbook, twice. Normally she wasn’t one to revisit books, there were just too many new works for her to read but being the only treatises she had available on practical magic, she didn’t think anyone would fault her for lingering overly long. Also, Professor McGonagall, the woman who had brought her to Diagon Alley had been the transfiguration professor and had seemed very intimidating, not the kind of woman she wanted to get on the bad side of. She couldn’t wait to get access to the Hogwarts library.
There must have been at least some magic on her compartment because over the next few minutes as the bustle of people quickly migrated onto the train it was still quiet enough that Hermione was barely even distracted. That was until the train started moving and the door to her compartment slammed open.
Hermione was about to get mad about the slammed door and then she noticed the perpetrator. In the entrance to her compartment stood a pudgy boy, flushing so deeply he looked like he might explode and hyperventilating. He looked almost on the edge of a panic attack. “Have you seen a toad? If I don’t find Trevor my nan is going to kill me. Could you maybe help me look?” He stopped flushing and went pale at his own words.
She almost brushed him off before she forced herself to consider the word vomit. Yes, it would likely be annoying, and she very much doubted this boy would be one of her new friends. But she would probably have to search up the train, maybe meet some new people. It couldn’t hurt to try to help with a good deed. She marked her page and placed the book down on her seat to make sure no one took it while she was gone. “Alright I’ll help you look. Although it’s likely been eaten by someone’s cat at this point.” The boy went completely white. That was probably not the best thing she could have said.
The boy, she quickly learned his name was Neville, was useless. After his assertion into her compartment he seemed very content to let her stick her head into compartments to question about his toad, choosing instead to hang back and focus on his breathing or something along those lines.
As she made her way down the train no one seemed to have seen a toad, her suspicion that it had been eaten or never made it on the train kept increasing. She pulled open the next door. “Have either of you seen a toad? Neville has lost his.” The two occupants turned towards her, shaking their heads.
“Do people really bring toads as pets? I mean what does a toad do?” The dark haired one asked.
“No one really does it anymore. Apparently, it was a big thing when my parents went to Hogwarts but it’s gone out of style.” Hermione noticed the wand in his hand, an old looking thing, a few hairline cracks running down the side. She had wanted to try the spells in her book, but she had been warned against doing it in muggle areas.
“I’m Hermione Granger. Are you about to do magic? I haven’t seen much yet.” She entered fully and took a seat, Neville still loitering in the doorway. She nodded at the dark-haired boy, “Are you the only one with magic also?” He nodded, “Something like that.”
The ginger was staring at her as she perched on the seat. “Well can I see your spell?” That brought him out of his slight stupor, and he squared up, rolling his shoulders slightly and whipped his wand out in front of him.
“Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,
Turn this stupid fat rat yellow.”
She’d only read their course books and a few history ones- Professor McGonagall had been strongly against getting more practical books early, something about placing too high expectations on herself- but that sounded nothing like any spell she had seen. “Are you sure that’s the spell? I mean I’ve read all of our coursebooks and that doesn’t sound like any of the ones in there.”
The redhead’s face changed color to match his hair and he seemed to inflate with indignation. “Well, if you know so well who don’t you do it. Or who even asked you to be here in the first place. We haven’t seen any bloody toad, why don’t you move on and stop bothering us.” He ended with a huff.
Her welcome clearly exhausted she stood up, catching the sympathetic glance from the dark haired one. She stalked out of the room, Neville trailing in her wake, and as the door swung shut, she heard behind her, “Whatever house I’m in I hope she’s not in it.” As if she would want to be in the same house as someone who couldn’t figure out what spells were supposed to sound like.
She and Neville checked the next few compartments without saying anything, but she eventually had to break the painful silence. “So, if toads aren’t really in style anymore why did you want one?”
Neville looked down; he really had a problem with eye contact. “My dad had one when he went off, my gran thought I should as well.”
“And you wouldn’t rather have an owl? I wanted one but my parents said I couldn’t have one because the neighbors would see it.” Neville just shrugged.
They made it to the end of the carriage they were making their way through and Hermione decided she had done enough toad searching. “Sorry Neville but I really shouldn’t leave my compartment empty for much longer. I’ll see you around though.”
With a nod and a mumbled “See you around.” He headed into the next carriage and she turned back the way they had come. Now she could relax with her book for the rest of the ride, prepare for however it was they were sorted. She was still annoyed that Hogwarts a History the book that should tell her everything about the school didn’t contain the information. How was she supposed to study for a test if they didn’t tell her what it was.
She pushed open the door to her compartment to find it far more populated than it was before. Five pairs of eyes turned towards her. The black-haired boy closest to the edge of the compartment stood up, he was quite tall. “Hi, you must be Hermione Granger.”
“Yes?”
“Your name is on your trunk.” He gestured to her trunk which was now stashed in the overhead rack. “I’m Michael Corner, sorry, we got kicked out of our compartment by some fifth years and we guessed by your book you were a first year and though we would join you.” Hermione shook his hand and moved past him to the seat where her transfiguration book was still sitting on the bench.
They went around introducing themselves. Morag McDougal was the black-haired girl with the almost unintelligibly thick Scottish accent and the pair of blondes were Ernie Macmillan and Wayne Hopkins.
“And the one so obsessed with Indian wars or something that he can’t be social is Terry Boot.” Michael gestured towards the quiet boy with his legs stretching between the benches. The brown-haired boy looked up from his book. “Middle eastern. And I was going to speak up before you beat me to it.” He slipped a bookmark into his book and sat forward, pulling his feet off of the seat.
Wayne shook his head. “If you don’t end up in Ravenclaw I will eat my entire history textbook.” There was a collective shudder at the thought. It was a substantial book.
Terry just shrugged. “Not a bad place to be.” Hermione felt like it was a good place to chime in. “I wouldn’t mind being in Ravenclaw. But I would prefer Gryffindor. From what I’ve read it seems like the best.”
Sounds of agreement came from Ernie and a snort from Michael. “Pff, Gryffindors are just egotistical daredevils.” Ernie looked like Michael had just disrespected his mother. “You take that back! Dumbledore was a Gryffindor.”
“There are a few exceptions.”
“Well Mr. Cynical, where are you hoping for?” Michael tapped his temple a couple times. “House of the smart and creative. I’m looking to join the eagles.”
Wayne chose that moment to join the discussion. “Please, all that house of the smart stuff is overplayed and just false. You know Hufflepuff has had the best average student ranking of any house for like nine of the last ten years.”
“Because we have personal research and interests to work on, we aren’t just here to grind at the curriculum. And please at the top of the rankings Ravenclaws almost always outperform Hufflepuffs.” Well, Michael seemed set on his destination.
There was a brief break of silence. “Well, at least none of you want to be Slytherins.” Said Ernie, scanning the compartment. Boot just shrugged again. “I mean I wouldn’t mind. I just don’t really think it’s a big deal.”
Ernie looked astounded. “But, I mean, pretty much all of-” his voice dropped down “You-know-who’s, followers were from there.” It seemed like Boot really wasn’t that passionate on the whole subject. “True some of the recent alums have been… terrible, but I wouldn’t vilify the ideals of cunning or ambition just because some people chose to use theirs for evil.”
Morag quickly defused the situation. “Personally, I don’t care where I go, I’m just looking forward to going. What classes are you looking forward to?”
That luckily turned them to the less inflammatory subject of classes, although she had expected the house one wanted would have been the least dangerous topic. Apparently, Boot was also looking forward to history, something which the entire rest of the compartment thought they were crazy for. Although based on Boot’s already demonstrated reading habits she thought that wasn’t much of a surprise. Also, according to Ernie, the Hogwarts history teacher was an honest to god ghost, something that she thought would give him unique insight into historical events. Ernie assured her that was not the case. “Binns doesn’t do anything but lecture about goblin rebellions. Apparently, his NEWT class is slightly better, but to get to the NEWT you need to pass the OWL and he teaches none of the curriculum, too caught up with the goblins.”
They talked for a while longer before Ernie pulled out a game called exploding snap. It seemed all of them knew it except for her and Morag which Hermione found slightly confusing. From what she had gathered, Morag’s family were all magical and it seemed like a pretty common game based on the rest of their compartments’ reactions. She didn’t question it though, she felt like there was probably something there that she didn’t know enough about the wizarding world to figure out and she had just met her. An interrogation likely wouldn’t endear Morag to her.
The land continued speeding past the window of the train. The land becoming more mountainous as they worked their way into the highlands. A thought suddenly hit Hermione. “Morag, Ernie, why did you come down to King’s Cross if Hogwarts is in the highlands?”
Ernie let Morag answer as she quickly tapped the deck to stop the cards from exploding. “The train is really the only way to Hogwarts. Sometimes they let us Scots take the Floo to Hogsmeade if we have a reason we need to, but at least first years are always required to take the train.” She placed down a cyclops card. “Not that many Scots really go to Hogwarts though. Hogwarts only accepts maybe four or five a year, so we aren’t one of their top priorities.”
“Accepts, you mean there are more wizards than this?”
The whole compartment laughed, and Hermione cringed back a little before she realized they weren’t trying to be unkind laughing at her, just at her questioning something that was probably common knowledge to them.
“If this was the extent of our population, we would be very screwed as a country.” Wayne chimed in. Michael hopped in to explain. “Hogwarts is the peak of wizarding schooling, they take 40-50 kids a year, they decide who they take, although there are some demographics they have to follow according to the ministry. Then there is a lot of other boarding schools in different areas that take other promising kids. The people who don’t get asked to any of those go to regional day schools.”
Hermione felt like quite an idiot for thinking this would be the extent of wizarding society. Diagon alley was way larger than 50 people a year could support and then another though occurred to her. “Oh god, my parents are going to be so ticked when they hear I could have stayed at home.”
Soon the light started fading outside the window and the boys left the compartment first to let her and Morag change into their school robes before they switched positions. Hermione quite liked the robes. They had a comforting weight to them, like being wrapped up in a warm jacket in the winter. And yet, they were surprisingly cool, even in the heat of the full compartment.
Life seemed to fade into a blur when the train pulled into the station. Their group of first years fighting their way through the press of much taller bodies. Michael, the tallest of them, leading the way through the crowd towards the calls for first years. Hermione only had an instant to take in the sheer monstrosity that was the man guiding them. Towering above her, more than twice her height and in the nippy September night his girth and layers made him appear wider than an old tree trunk.
“Well think that’s all of ya.”
They began moving again, stumbling along the dark winding path behind the giant, because that was the only thing Hermione could think of him as. The dark pines surrounding them finally opened up a little, revealing a small cove with a dozen or so small boats beached around the edge. “Come on now, board up.”
Hermione found herself pulled into a boat with Michael, Terry and a girl she hadn’t met yet. The giants call of “Forward” resounded over the water and the boats lurched off under their own power, moving to the center of the small cove than turning towards the entrance. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she caught her first glimpse of Hogwarts.
In Hogwarts a History, there had been a sketch of the outline of it with the towers and wings labeled, but it was nothing compared to the real thing. The great hall was a wall of light, different colors shining out from the tops of the windows. Ravenclaw tower, just a trident shaped stick on paper shone with silvery light, a beacon in the night. The Astronomy tower seemed to pierce the sky. Hermione prayed that there was an elevator of some kind. And all of the rest of the castle, rugged peaks reaching upward and filling her field of vision. It was nothing short of spectacular.
The lake slipped past in an instant and before she realized it she was marching down the great hall. It was really beautiful. The ceiling displaying all of the stars above them, much clearer than from anywhere she had ever seen before. The massive row of windows on one side showing a view out over the lake, the top third of them made up of stained glass, showing what she thought were scenes from the founding of Hogwarts.
Professor McGonagall placed a small stool at the front and then topped it with a worn old hat. Really, they were going to be sorted into houses by a hat? Before she could get more annoyed about it, the hat split open and began to sing. Well, it was weird, but it was indisputably very magical.
The stern witch pulled out a list and called out “Abbot, Hannah” Well, if they were going alphabetically this would all be over soon enough. The blonde girl was quickly sorted into Hufflepuff. She clapped loudly when Terry was sorted into Ravenclaw and politely enough for all the others she didn’t know.
Soon enough, it was her turn. She made her way to the stool and looked at the hundreds of people in the hall, completely focused on her. And then the hat fell down over her eyes, obscuring her view. “Hmmm, you’re a busy minded one. Good amount of drive, abundance of courage, but you wouldn’t have a good time in Gryffindor or Slytherin.”
“I will have you know that I would make a great Gryffindor.”
“Tell me girl, would you rather spend your time fighting for respect in the house of the brave or spend seven years with others on the quest for knowledge and skill?”
Hermione pulled off the hat to see the Ravenclaw table cheering. She made her way over and plopped down next to Terry and the other new Ravenclaw, Mandy Brocklehurst she thought. The feast passed quickly, she wasn’t sure she had ever been so full or so tired. She just wanted to collapse in a bed and sleep for a whole day.
Their year followed the fifth-year prefect who had introduced her to them as Jane Cabot up towards the tower in silence. It seemed they were all much too exhausted to discuss. Hermione did try to pay attention to the route, it wouldn’t do to get lost, but it seemed simple, just keep going up. Eventually they made it to a door with a bronze eagle shaped knocker that Jane only had to tap before it sprung into motion, opening its beak a spouting out a riddle. “Seas with no water. Hills with no earth. Roads never stepped on. What am I?”
Jane turned to them, as you can see we don’t have a password like the other houses but a riddle. If you can’t figure it out you’ll just have to wait for someone to let you in from the inside or for someone else to come along to help you figure it out. Now can anyone get the answer here?
There were a couple moments of silence before Sui Li, she had met the shy girl at dinner spoke up from the back. “A map?” The door silently swung open to reveal the most magical room Hermione had ever seen. It was circular and probably six or seven stories high, taking up the entire top of the main body of the tower. Tall windows went from floor to ceiling letting in moonlight, in fact it seemed like the entire room was bathed in liquid starlight, although on closer inspection, the silvery light illuminating the space mainly came from the clear crystals that floated irregularly around the room. Around the edge of the room was a mainly clear disk of space, filled with seating areas, groups of couches and soft armchairs.
In between the windows there were bookcases reaching up to the shadowy heights of the room although those were not what drew the eye the most. No, that honor went to the structure in the center of the room. Reaching up, almost to the ceiling as well was a chaotic stack of bookcases, stairs, ladders, narrow pathways, seats, hammocks, and a distinct lack of handrails shooting up above them and crossing over their heads to the wall in the most disorganized and richest place of knowledge Hermione had ever seen.
Jane was talking again. “This is the Ravenclaw library, it is all books that have been donated to the house since its founding. DO NOT bring these to the Hogwarts library, they are not part of it. There is no particular organization system, but more commonly used books are closer to the bottom. Sometimes it’s easier to use one of the brooms to get things from the higher areas.” She gestured to a rack on the wall that had seven or eight broom sticks on it. “But you really shouldn’t be going up that far in your first year. Also try not to fall, but there is a charm that will catch you if you do so don’t be too scared of it.”
She pointed out two open doors in the walls. “Boys are over there; Girls are over there. You are first years, so you are one story up, we’ll wake you up for breakfast tomorrow and show you the way back down to the great hall.” With a smile she turned towards the girl’s side. “Good night, Hogwarts starts tomorrow.”