Chapter 6
{Monday 2/9/1991}{08:00}{The Great Hall}
Hermione was surprised. She had slept fairly well, considering her new surroundings. She was the first one up, which wasn’t unusual as she was an early riser, so she took the opportunity to explore the bathroom and have a shower.
Soon enough, she was dressed and ready so took a book down to The Great Hall with her.
She was buried in her book when she felt someone sit down in front of her.
“So, Hermione Black?”
When Hermione looked up, she noticed one of the twins she met yesterday sat in front of her. She went to answer and hesitated, studying the boy’s face, trying to figure out which one of the twins it was. She settled on Fred.
“Yes Fred, my last name is Black. I would prefer to not draw too much attention to myself. I’ve looked into some of my family and, well, I know that they’re not very well liked.” Hermione answered, already back to reading her book; this is why she didn’t notice the shocked look on Fred’s face. It took a few minutes of silence for Hermione to look up again.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“How did you know I was Fred?” he asked, still shocked.
“You were the first to speak to me on the train; it makes sense that you would be the first to seek me out this morning. You do want to be friends after all.” Hermione told him, keeping the other noticeable differences to herself.
Breakfast passed quickly after that. Ginny and Draco had joined them, soon followed by George and the rest of their friends – even those in different houses. Before they knew it, their head of house – Professor Snape – was handing them their timetables and they were off to their first ever lesson.
Potions.
This is the one lesson that Hermione is most excited for. From what Draco told her, it’s just like Chemistry, only there’s magic involved – obviously.
“To start today, we will go over the rules that you are expected to follow.” Professor Snape said, floating into the classroom, silencing the class of Slytherin’s and Gryffindor’s. “Rarely in first year will you need your wands, they will stay in your bag. You will not run around this room, you will walk and be aware of your surroundings – accidents happen, but some are irreversible. You will read the instructions on the board before doing anything else. Have I made myself clear?” Professor Snape asked, getting an overall response of yes.
In today’s lesson, Professor Snape taught them all about Potions safety. The do’s and don’ts when it comes to potion making. He also showed them how to prepare their cauldron. “Okay, your turn, I’ll be making my way around to see your progress.” Professor Snape said, leaving the first years to try and prepare a cauldron.
Hermione, who had chosen a seat in the second row in between Ginny and Draco, jumped slightly when she felt a presence in front of her. Looking up, she found Professor Snape stood there, looking down at her cauldron “Good work Miss Black and may I be the first to say, welcome back to the wizarding world. Should you need anything at all, day or night, I shall always be ready to assist.”
“Thank you Professor.” Hermione answered, going back to her cauldron as Snape walked away.
“He’s not as scary as he tries to be.” Draco said, from her left “He just does this so that he can keep control over his classes I think, he’s really nice outside of school.”
“I’m sure he is.” Hermione said with a smile, remembering why Draco seemed to adore the Professor so much.
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{10:00}{Transfiguration}
“Do you think we’ll make a Potion in our next class? I’ve been looking forward to it for ages!” Ginny exclaimed as they walked into the Transfiguration classroom.
“Probably not.” Draco shrugged, looking at the cat - that was sat on the Professor’s desk - strangely.
The students all sat and talked quietly as they waited for their professor to show up. Five minutes into waiting, Harry and Ron burst into the room out of breath and looking around wildly for their professor.
“Phew, made it. Can you imagine the look on old McGonnagal’s face if we were late?” Ron laughed, getting the shock of his life when the cat on the desk, dove right off and turned into Professor McGonnagal. “Bloody hell! That was brilliant!”
“Thank you Mr Weasley. If you and Mr Potter could take your seats, I would be grateful.” She said, walking back up to the front of the classroom. “Good morning everyone. For those of you who have forgotten, I am Professor McGonnagal, and I am your Transfiguration Professor. Today, we will be learning some of the basic logic behind transfiguration.”
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“This is amazing.” Hermione said to Ginny, when they had partnered up to write out a definition “I can’t believe I didn’t know about any of this before.”
“Well, if it helps, we’re all in the same boat really. We’re not actually allowed to do magic anywhere but Hogwarts until we turn seventeen.” Ginny told Hermione.
“Really?” Hermione asked, shocked.
“Yeah, but, every once in a while, at a big party – well, nobody really notices if there’s an extra spell or two.” Ginny told her, a smirk on her face that told Hermione she was talking from experience.
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{16:00}{Slytherin Common Room}
On a Monday, Hermione didn’t have a sixth lesson, so she decided to take the opportunity to sit down and write a letter to her parents. It had started out okay – all excitement, telling her parents about the train journey and meeting Hagrid; how they got to the castle and all the different people that she had met. It was only when Hermione was writing about her sorting that she hesitated, remembering her parents’ reaction to her meeting Draco and talking about Slytherin. Whilst she was sat thinking about what to write, someone dropped down in the seat opposite, making her jump.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Pansy? Isn’t it?” Hermione asked, recognising the dark-haired girl from the previous evening.
“Yes. We haven’t really had a chance to introduce ourselves and, well, since we’re going to be sharing a dorm for seven years, it seems like an important thing to do.” Pansy said, a big smile on her face “So, I’m Pansy Parkinson, Pureblood and I turn twelve in August.” She told Hermione, gesturing for her to go next.
“Oh, well, wonderful to properly meet you Pansy. I’m Hermione Black, also a Pureblood and I turn twelve this month.” Hermione told her.
“Merlin and Morgana! When’s your birthday? We have to celebrate!”
“Really? Uh, the nineteenth. It’s fine, I don’t normally do anything for my birthday, I just do something fun with my parents, or I’m usually at school.”
“Nonsense. We will plan something.” Pansy told her, before changing the topic “So, what were you so focused on?” she asked, gesturing to the piece of parchment Hermione had been writing on.
“It’s just a letter to my parents. I’m not really sure how they’ll react to it though.”
“Would you like me to read it over?” Pansy offered.
“Sure, why not.” Hermione sighed, passing the piece of parchment over to Pansy.
Dear Mum and Dad,
As promised, I am writing to you after my first full day here. It’s amazing! I took your advice for the train journey and was myself; so much so, I helped my new friend Neville search for his lost toad. Whilst helping Neville I met some more people; Fred and George (they’re twins), Angelina, Katie, Alecia and Lee. They’re a few years above me but they’re all lovely.
I met a kind man named Hagrid (he’s the groundskeeper), who escorted us all to the castle. We arrived in boats, going across the lake with an amazing view of the castle. When we got to the castle, we had to wait in a room outside of the hall; I saw Draco again and it was great! He’s even become friends with the people I made friends with on the boat, isn’t that fantastic?! I think you’d really like my new friends – there’s Harry, I met him on the train (he was sat with his friend Ron, I don’t know if I like him), Ginny (Ron’s twin) and Luna.
The sorting was really long but it was interesting to watch and to look around the hall. There’s just so much magic! I got sorted into Slytherin. I know that you might not be happy about that but, I am. I’ve met some really amazing people in my house, and I’ve only been here a day. There’s Draco, the twins Fred and George, Harry and all the girls I share a dorm with, Ginny, Pansy, Millie and Daphne. I get to learn more about my family too. There’s books about them, my head of house knew my birth parents, the portraits knew them too. I really just want to get to know them.
My first day of lessons was amazing. We did a lot of bookwork and learning the rules, especially in potions – there’s a lot of safety rules. Transfiguration was amazing too; my teacher can turn into a cat!! I’m not sure how I feel about the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, he was a tad strange.
Overall, I have really enjoyed my first day and I really, really miss you both. I can’t wait until Christmas!
Love you always,
Hermione Xx
“They’re going to absoloutely love it.” Pansy assured Hermione.
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