Seating charts
Chapter 4
Hermione’s leg bobbed up and down continuously at a pace she didn’t even know was physically possible. It had been about a week since the first day which meant that class introductions and awkward icebreakers and going over syllabuses was over and that the real curriculum was about to start. This excited Hermione to no end, after all fourth year was meant to be a bridge between more juvenile concepts to advanced ones, she could only imagine how much this would help her magic, and more importantly her research. This also meant that seating charts were to be officiated, which sparked anxiety to no end.
Ron was talking in the background, “And there’s no way he won’t be a champion! I mean Krum’s perfect for this tournament. Merlin, do you suppose we’ll have classes with him!”
Hermione cut him off before she had to be tortured by any more nonsense about Krum, seriously he seemed like a nice bloke but not nice enough for Ron to be so obsessed with him and make everyone else hear about it too. Besides, hearing about quidditch so much only reminded her of the horrid experience at the World Cup.
“Could you guys eat any slower? I swear even Binns is faster than you at this rate.” She pestered, trying to get to potions faster.
Ron tried to comfort her, “Sorry, we’re almost finished though. And you don’t need to stress too much Mione.”
“Yeah, don’t worry Mione, Binns could never out-race us.” Harry replied “All we would need to do is fan some wind his way, and boom, he’s flying back and we're in the lead.” At this Hermione chuckled a bit, she had to admit no matter how stressed out she could get that her friends making her laugh always made it better. He proceeded “Ok but seriously our potions seats will be fine, you're worrying over nothing.”
Upon hearing the last comment, Hermione snapped back to her anxious mood. Yeah, your potions seats will be just fine because everyone knows you and Ron are gonna sit together, who does that leave me with? Some asshole slytherin? She wanted to complain but she bit her tongue. The day was already not going the way they planned out so why make it worse? Instead she just picked up a piece of toast to occupy herself while waiting for her friends.
Finally, after all of them had finished their breakfast, the made there way down to the Potions room, which in Hermione’s humble opinion may as well be used as some sort of torture chamber. The fact its location occupied the dungeons was enough to be off-putting on its own, but to make matters worse it was as Snape put in extra effort to make the room as cold and dark as possible. And since there were no windows, the room couldn’t even get a drop of sunlight so often the brightest light source would be the soft fires illuminating from under the cauldrons. Hermione couldn’t even begin to comprehend how anyone could read in there, she was always having to strain her eyes. Plus, as the year progressed and more potions were made, the room always began to smell terrible like there was sort of rotting carcass hidden under the desks. It truly was far from an ideal academic environment.
Harry spoke up, “Ron, mate there’s an open table over there.”
Hermione sighed quietly, as expected Harry and Ron split away to their own table, Hermione didn’t blame them of course, but this put her in an awkward situation and she already didn’t like dealing with social situations.
Ron, sensing her discomfort tried to help, “Hey you could go sit with Pavarti, there’s a seat open next to her.”
“Yeah, thanks.” She replied
Hermione pushed her way past all the other students until she got the Parvati. Leaning on the desk, she cleared her throat loudly to catch her attention.
“Hey Parvati! Do you think we could sit together for this class?” She asked hopefully.
The desi girl looked up with guilt and began moving her hands defensively, “Oh! Well- uhm I would love to sit next to you Hermione, but it’s just that I kinda already told Lavender I’d save her a spot next to me cuz we always sit together, and going back on my promise would just be-”
Hermione loved her roommates, but she knew they had a tendency to ramble, and she already got the point so she cut her off. “It’s no problem! I totally get it.” She turned away before Parvati could get another word in and inwardly cursed herself for subjecting herself to such an embarrassing situation, and of course continued her hunt for a seat.
Before she could begin panicking about the lack of options, she heard a voice from next to her. “Hey Granger, if you're looking for a seat there's one next to me!” Nevermind, it was not just a voice, it was practically a savior. As she turned though, she was surprised to see the smiling -- no, grinning -- face of Daphne Greengrass who waved at her eagerly with her head tilted to the side .
Greengrass was her Savior? In all their years of attending school together, the two had barely interacted much less talked to each other, not to mention she hadn’t really stuck out anyways so Hermione was a bit paranoid as to why the blonde had taken an interest in her all of a sudden. Then again, maybe she was being presumptuous and the world didn’t revolve around her and Greengrass was simply trying to be nice to a fellow peer. She was a prefect. The fact that the teachers and headmaster trusted her enough to occupy such a position eased her worries about the girl, but then again isn't she best friends with Parkinson? Parkinson who used to bully her relentlessly in their early years? Sure she had stopped but what if their group still held prejudices regardless? What if this was some sort of prank? Was it worth the risk? Looking around at the mostly taken seats, Hermione would say it was (and that she didn’t really have a choice). Besides, she was fully confident she could defend herself either way.
‘Thanks Greengrass.” She responded quickly before sliding onto the bench and setting her bag down under the table. Her apprehensions about her new seat were not at all eased as Adrian Pucey and Blaise Zambini turned around to introduce themselves and talk with Greengrass. Hermione couldn't believe her luck, forget accidently being sat next to an asshole Slytherin, she was sat next to three of them . well, three just Slytherins, but still!
Right as Pucey turned to talk to Hermione, Snape aggressively dropped a pile of books, scattering dust everywhere and scaring the whole class into submission and silence.
"Good morning students." He said in a tone that indicated it would be anything BUT a good morning. "Mrs. Granger, now that you're finally done socializing over there, it’s time to pay attention."
Hermione remained silent but she had to fight harder than a goddamn army to not roll her eyes. Of course she was the one that got reprimanded even though it was literally Pucey who was about to do the socializing. Whatever, at least he didn’t take away points. To her surprise, she saw Greengrass mouth ‘Sorry’ to her quite sincerely. Her attention was Snape in an instant.
“Now that we are going to start the curriculum, these will be your new seats for the year, and no I will not be making changes to the seating chart no matter how many people ask.” A few groans could be heard throughout the classroom which Hermione had to roll her eyes at. Honestly, what did they expect? This was Snape they were dealing with; the man might as well be the Devil himself. He continued in his monotone voice, “Now, everyone come take a textbook from the desk. You will read and take notes on pages thirty-six to fifty-five. There will be a quiz on them first thing tomorrow morning.” This time the entire class groaned. Well except for Hermione, even though she hated the man, she had to concede that he was an effective teacher.
She was about to get up when she heard Greengrass speak up beside her.
“You can stay here, I’ll get textbooks for the both of us.”
Hermione stopped her quickly, ‘No! I can get them for us, don't worry!” She noticed Daphne looking at her with a semi-confused, semi-amused expression making her feel like she had to explain herself. “Sorry, don’t mean to be rude, but I just like picking out my own textbooks. If we were using them for the whole year I’d like to make sure mine is in good condition. Excuse me, I have to go before the the good ones all get taken”
She quickly walked to the desk and scanned all the books, flipping through potential winners when she found the perfect one. It was one of those books with nothing written on the sides and the cover wasn’t ripping and the pages felt used, but perfectly used and not too worn out. She was about to just pick a random one for Greengrass but a feeling of guilt stopped her. She did offer her seat to Hermione, the least she could do in return was get a nice textbook. Once she found another she felt was suitable, she retreated back to the desk, only to find her giggling around with Blaise. Hermione sat quietly not wanting to interrupt and slid the book in front of her.
“Wow Granger, you weren’t kidding when you said that you're picky over your books. Last year mine was ripping at the seams.” She said appreciatively.
Hermione couldn’t help but beam internally with pride over Greengrass noticing her careful consideration in her selection process. She hummed and smiled slightly at the approval. Yeah, it was definitely worth picking a good one out for the Slytherin. The rest of the class was mostly uneventful as everyone was just reading and taking notes. Towards the end though, Hermione decided that her curiosity had to be satisfied and lightly tapped Greengrass’ foot with her own to catch her attention.
She cleared her throat awkwardly and whispered, “Um, sorry I don’t mean to interrupt your work-”
“Nah it’s fine, I can never get any work done in here anyways, it’s way too dark to even read in here!” Greengrass replied
At this, Hermione became more energetic, finally someone shared her grievances. “RIGHT!” she whispered a bit more aggressively “That's how I always feel! Honestly I swear Snape doesn’t cast Lumos here just out of spite. Or maybe he’s allergic to any light. Explains why he’s so pale even for a British person.”
Greengrass giggled a bit and Hermione decided it was a nice feeling to have made a girl she had barely talked to laugh so sincerely. And that the girls smile really did fit her quite nicely, even more so up close.
She continued with her original purpose, “Anyways, I really do appreciate you offering me this seat, but why aren’t you sitting with Parkinson? I mean don’t you usually sit next to her?”
Greengrass looked behind her shoulder signaling to her friend. “Oh Pansy? Yeah we do usually sit with each other when we have the chance. It’s good to give us some space apart sometimes though. I think we would drive ourselves insane to the point of Azkaban if we didn’t. Besides, she wanted a chance to sit with Tracey anyways and I wanted to… well uh expand my horizons too.” She said the last part while looking Hermione up and down, which made her blush a bit. But also what the fuck did that even mean?
That’s so cryptic honestly! She thought.
Greengrass asked her own question, breaking Hermione away from her thoughts, “What about you? Why not with Potter or Weasel- um Weasley?” she said, quickly correcting herself looking painfully red in the face, which honestly Hermione found kind of amusing. She appreciated that she corrected herself without being asked to. Even if it was just the bare minimum. “Don’t they need you to, like, carry their grades or something?”
Now it was Hermione’s turn to look back at her friends. “Well, all three of us had the class together, so they put themselves together. And they are perfectly capable of succeeding on their own! Although I don’t doubt they’ll ask me for my notes later.” Hermione was expecting Greengrass to respond with pity but surprisingly, she just looked, well, surprised.
“Well honestly I’d count myself quite lucky for getting you as my partner. I expected loads of Gryffindor's to try and sit with you.” She said with relief. Hermione scoffed but before she could respond and tell her she had it all wrong, the bell rang dismissing the class and Greengrass started gathering all her things.
“Thanks for the book Granger.” She paused and looked at Hermione, biting her lip ever so slightly, “I’ll see you tomorrow then, yeah?” But the way she said it was not at all a question, instead it was honestly the perfect amount of cocky.
All Hermione said was, “Mhm, bye Greengrass.” and watched the blonde skip blissfully out with her friends. Ok so maybe she did get why the Slytherins loved her so much. She was a bit like a beacon of politeness in a house that was mostly horrid.
Ron and Harry came up to her, both looking guilty.
“Blimey, Mione, sorry you had to end up with a Slytherin.” Harry said.
“It's fine, actually she was the one that offered me the spot.” She said as they walked out to their next class. Upon hearing the news, Ron visibly tensed.
“No offense, but don’t you think it’s kinda weird that a Slytherin is offering you a seat?” He said skeptically.
“I mean, I did at first but I really don’t think she has any bad intentions. Seriously, you don’t have to be so paranoid. Even if she did have some ill-fated motive, I think I could protect myself.” She replied, and that was the end of that conversation.
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By the end of the day, Hermione was EXHAUSTED. She didn’t even have the energy to stay in the common room for long, and retreated to her room to do so. She sighed a sigh of relief when she saw her dorm was empty and she could just clear her mind. Greengrass was really onto something with the whole space or Azkaban thing.
Despite her morning anxiety, she thought her day had gone pretty well. Potions had gone surprisingly well and even in her next classes she felt she got good seats. She had wanted to sit next to Harry for Transfiguration, but of course McGonagall had a premade seating chart, so she got Theodore Nott. At first Hermione found it ironic that she sat next to two Slytherins in a row, but trusted McGonagall's judgment. She would never put her next to someone that she thought Hermione couldn’t work with or would disrespect her. She got Harry for charms and Neville for Herbology which was actually really relieving because that boy was surprisingly good with plants. She found Defense against the Dark arts, and honestly Mad-eye Moody in general, to be way too messy and chaotic. I mean he didn’t even have a clear lesson plan or seating for Christ's sake! Still she didn’t want one class to ruin her whole day. Especially when had finished her homework early enough that she could spend more time researching other magic.
Mainly blood magic. As Hermione reflected on her findings and the notion of the whole theory, she was eventually lulled to sleep. Her first week at Hogwarts wasn’t turning out as unbearable as she thought it would.
Please let it be that way for the rest of the year, She hoped.