Chapter Summery: Covers Hermione's first few weeks in school including the incident in their first flying lesson. Only this is what really happened… from Hermione's point of view.
--- Begin Fic Here ---
"Dear Mom and Dad,
My first week has been great. I love all of my classes, especially transfiguration. It's really difficult but it's well worth it. Professor McGonagall told me in private that she thinks I have real potential (and that's something coming from the toughest teacher at Hogwarts). The only class I'm not really sure about is Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor Quirrell doesn't seem to be the type of person who can teach us much about defending against dark magic; although he does seem to know a fair bit about trolls. I guess time will tell.
The castle is wonderful. Everyday I find something new and they certainly don't let us starve. The meals are great, I don't know how they prepare them all but they must have a huge kitchen staff. My dormitory is wonderful. Living in the Gryffindor house is everything I imagined it would be.
All in all, everything is going well. There are lots of other witches and wizards here who are just like me so I don't feel too out of place. I'm looking forward to starting flying lessons soon so I'll b sure to write you after my first class this week. I hope you two are doing well. I know your practices are pretty busy during this time of the year. I can't wait to see you for the holidays.
Love from,
Hermione"
Hermione rolled over on her back on her bed and re-read her letter. Satisfied, she folded the parchment and climbed off the four-poster. She walked down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room and waved a silent hi to Parvati, Lavender, Padma, and some other first year Ravenclaw girls that she hadn't met as she headed through the portal to the corridor. It was their Friday afternoon break and these girls were spending this free time having a lively, giggle-filled conversation. Hermione didn't need to hear what they were saying to know that the topic had to be boys. It was always boys.
Hermione had tried, she really had tried, to be a part of their group and join in on their conversations, but she couldn't bring herself to be that vapid all the time. Lavender and Parvati just didn't share the same interests as she did. It wasn't that they were mean to her. On the contrary, they were always very nice and polite even though they didn't really understand her. They were good roommates, but Hermione just couldn't open up to them, or anyone else for that matter.
The only person she'd really talked to was Percy Weasley, the house prefect, but that was mostly about classes. Everyone else thought Percy was pompous and smug but he never treated Hermione that way because she was just as interested in advancing at Hogwarts as he was. Percy was always eager to shell out some advice to Hermione, and the young witch could hold her own in any verbal debate. Even so, Percy wasn't the kind of person she'd be willing to open up to about her personal life.
Hermione thought about her first few days at Hogwarts as she made her way towards the owlery. She hadn't lied to her parents; she was having the time of her life at Hogwarts so far. It was everything she dreamed of and more. She had already earned close to one hundred points for Gryffindor. She already had a good start with all of the studying she had done over the summer. All of her teachers were impressed, except Snape, the Potions Master and head of Slytherin house. He seemed to dislike everyone, a trait all Slytherins seemed to possess from their head of house down. Hermione often wondered how they got along with each other.
Snape was by far the worse though, being a professor. Gryffindors had they potions lessons with the Slytherins and Snape was more than unfairly biased. He seemed to use this class as his own personal torture session for the Gryffindors and his main target was Harry Potter.
She thought back to her first potions lesson, which was earlier that day. Snape had given Harry a personal pop quiz in front of the whole class, asking him questions no first year could have possibly known the answer to; well except Hermione of course, but the professor never gave her the chance.
It was still rare, even after several days of school, to see Harry talk. Occasionally she would see him talking with his roommates during meals, but other than that he seemed to confide only in Ron.
This time though, Ron couldn't do his speaking for him. Snape was drilling him and only him for the answers to these complex questions. Hermione had tried to help. She figured if she could just get Snape to call on her, he'd leave Harry alone. But no matter how high she raised her hand, the professor had ignored her. He was intent on making a mockery of Harry Potter. All Harry could say was "I don't know," except for when he added, "I think Hermione does though. Why don't you try her?" causing Hermione to blush.
Of course, all of the classes weren't that intense. In fact, her first transfiguration class earlier that week was memorable in its own humorous way. Apparently Parvati was serious about trying to get Harry to notice her. She had plopped down right beside him in and did everything she could to get his attention from batting her eyes, to trying to whisper something Hermione couldn't hear. Parvati was so engrossed in trying to get Harry's attention that she failed to notice McGonagall standing right behind her.
"Ms. Patil!" she shouted after two full minutes of watching Parvati's antics. "If you are quite finished displaying your skills as a mime to Mr. Potter, I'd like to continue on with class."
Harry hadn't even noticed what Parvati was doing so hearing his named mentioned caused him to blush as well as Parvati. It was all Hermione could do to keep from laughing.
"Serves her right," she thought as she opened the door the owlery. Even this many days after the event, Hermione still couldn't think about the scene without cracking a smile.
She found the nearest school owl and tied her letter to its leg. It took off immediately without any further prompting. She wondered if her mother would be able to see through the letter and know that she hadn't really made any friends yet. She didn't want her folks to worry about her. Even though she hadn't formed any tight bonds, she was still much happier than she had been at her old school. That was enough for her.
Still…
She constantly played back the sorting hat's final words to her. "Be yourself, Hermione and you'll get all of your heart's desires."
What she desired most was someone she could really be friends with, who would accept her for who she was and not judge her or hate her because she was smart. It wasn't that she wanted someone who was just like her or as into studying as her. She didn't need a clone. All she wanted was someone she could be herself around and know that they would always be okay with that, no matter how strange she could be. She wanted… a best friend.
As she left the owlery, her thoughts once again went to Harry Potter. He'd never teased her, but he'd never really talked to her either. He was raised with muggles, but he was by far the most famous wizard at Hogwarts. He had probably come to Hogwarts looking for a friend just like her, but unlike her, he had no problems finding someone who would want to be his friend. What would have happened if she had found Harry Potter first?
"Bloody unfair," she muttered as she headed towards the library.
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Anyone who knew Hermione would have been able to tell instantly how nervous she was the morning of their first flying lesson.
"You see, flying is really very easy as long as you know the proper techniques," she said lively during breakfast. "I read all about it in 'Quidditch Through the Ages.' I mean who better to learn about broomstick flying from than from professional quidditch players. Of course, there is some skill and practice involved but it's just like anything else, once you've studied the technique, you're halfway there. I'm sure it will be fine."
She stuffed a piece of toast in her mouth to shut herself up, but it was no use. The moment she swallowed, she knew that she'd be talking again. She couldn't help it. Of course since no one else knew this about her, she guessed she sounded as pompous and smug as people accused Percy of being.
"I wonder if Percy gets nervous a lot and that's why people think he's pompous," she thought to herself. "Then again he doesn't seem to prattle on like I do. Maybe really smart people always seem pompous when they're really nervous. Now that actually did sound pompous. It's a good thing I didn't say that out loud." Hermione suddenly realized that not only was she rambling aloud, she was even rambling in her thoughts. It was then that she realized just how much flying really terrified her. She didn't even know why. It wasn't like she was afraid of heights.
It was actually more like she was afraid of failing. She had to admit to herself that flying wasn't something you could learn from a book. After two weeks of outshining everyone in her classes, she didn't want to look like a complete idiot on a broomstick. To top things off they had flying lessons with none other than the Slytherins. Just what she needed, to make a fool of herself in front of Pansy Parkinson. So far Hermione hadn't been able to give the girl much ammunition for her insults, but one slip up during flying and she knew she'd never hear the end of it.
As if in answer to her silent prayers to have a distraction from thinking and talking about flying, the mail owls arrived. A large barn owl landed in front of her with a letter. She opened it eagerly. She rarely got mail and it was always from her parents but she didn't complain. In the entire time they'd been there, she'd only seen Harry Potter get one letter. Maybe his family didn't like using owls as mail carriers. Hermione's folks had gotten used to it very quickly and loved how fast the owls delivered letters back and forth.
As she had expected, the letter was from her mom.
"Dear Hermione,
If I'm right, you'll be receiving this letter during breakfast right before your first flying lesson this afternoon. So the first thing I should tell you is hush up. What will your friends think of you if they hear you rambling on about whatever book you poured over last night to prepare you for this."
Hermione grinned. If anyone understood Hermione, it was her mother, having known her for eleven years. She continued the letter.
"In any case, dear, I'm sure you'll do just fine today. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying classes and school in general but don't forget to enjoy life as well. I know in time, you'll find the right way to balance both."
Hermione tucked the note away in her robes and began to feel a bit better about her upcoming class. It was then she noticed Draco Malfoy and two other Slytherins standing at the table near Harry, Ron, and Neville. Professor McGonagall was also there, though she seemed to be leaving. Malfoy dropped something on the table and left with his friends. From the angry looks on Harry and Ron's faces, she realized she must have missed some sort of fight. Whatever it was, McGonagall had broken it up and now it was time for them to leave for their first class.
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"Up!" Hermione ordered. The broom by her side barely moved. She wondered vaguely if maybe it was so old, it couldn't respond correctly. The handle had been broken at some point and repaired by spellotape.
Other brooms had done exactly what Madame Hooch had said they would do, which was fly up into their hands. Why wasn't this working for her? At least Pansy was having the same problem.
"Up!" she shouted at her broom again, though this time it was more of a plea.
The broom slowly rose to her hand. Hermione wondered if it was out of pity. No matter, at least she had gotten this far.
"Now mount your broom like so," Madam Hooch said, demonstrating on her own broom.
Hermione mimicked her example; keeping in mind everything she had read the previous night.
"Very good Ms. Granger," the teacher said. "Perfect form."
Hermione let out a sigh of relief as the teacher passed her. So far so good. Even Neville, who was right beside her, was getting the hang of it and he was the most nervous of them all.
Now all they had to do was fly up, hover for a bit and fly back down. It seemed simple enough.
Then she noticed Pansy Parkinson whispering something slyly to Draco Malfoy. They were both chuckling about something. Then Pansy looked up from their conversation and muttered something in Hermione's direction.
"Did she just cast a spell at me?" Hermione wondered.
Then it happened. Before Madam Hooch had had even blown her whistle, Neville was in the air. He was floating higher and higher, a look of shock and fright on his face. Hermione looked up at him and then across to Pansy, who was laughing hysterically with Malfoy. What had just happened?
Now Neville was falling. He landed with a loud thud only a few feet away.
"Poor Neville," Hermione heard Parvati sigh on the other side of her. "He shouldn't have kicked off so hard."
"But he didn't kick off." Hermione said whirling around. "I was right beside him. His broom just started on its own."
But nobody heard her. All of the Gryffindors were gathering around Madam Hooch who was leaning over Neville's still body. If he hadn't been a wizard, the fall probably would have killed him. As it was, he just had a broken wrist. Madam Hooch picked up a very distraught Neville and started walking him to the hospital wing. Before she left, she made it very clear that if anyone attempted to fly while she was gone they'd be expelled.
As soon as they were gone, the Slytherins started laughing. Hermione was sure that Pansy was the cause of the accident; she just couldn't prove it. No one saw what really happened except for her and Malfoy, and he certainly wouldn't tell.
And speaking of Malfoy, it seemed he was causing even more trouble. "Look, it's that stupid thing, Longbottom's Gram sent him." He held a small round object in his hand now. Hermione recognized it immediately as a rememberall. She had read all about them in "101 Magical Objects to Make Your Everyday Life Easier."
Harry Potter approached Malfoy slowly, but deliberately. "Give that here, Malfoy." He spoke softly, but there was a notable trace of anger in his voice.
Hermione did a double take. Harry Potter spoke! He was actually going to stick up for Neville and on his own, without Ron's help. From the stunned silence that followed the statement, it seemed that everyone else was equally shocked at what was occurring.
Malfoy, however, would not be so easily swayed. He hopped on one of the school broomsticks and took off into the air. When he was level with the top of a nearby tree he called, "Come and get it Potter."
Everyone turned from Malfoy to Harry. Without hesitation, he mounted his broomstick.
"No!" Hermione shouted. She knew as well as everyone else that Harry couldn't fly. What if he got hurt like Neville, or worse? She had to stop him. "Madam Hooch told us not to move. You'll get us all into trouble," she added quickly thinking that he'd back down if he thought his friends might be punished for his actions. But it didn't work. Harry was soon in the air.
Hermione's mouth dropped, Harry Potter was not only flying, but he was flying well. Her thoughts drifted back to the speed and grace of the quidditch players in "Quidditch Throughout the Ages," and saw the same sort of natural skill in Harry's flying. It was like he belonged in the air. How could he have been raised by muggles and be that good?
"Look at him go!" Lavender squealed as they watched Harry dart towards Malfoy. "He's amazing. The best flyer I've ever seen."
Hermione looked towards the knot of Slytherins nearby. Pansy was fingering her wand. Was she going to do the same thing to Harry that she had done to Neville? It was supposed to be impossible to curse most brooms, but the school brooms were probably so old that they had lost most of their protection.
Ever so casually, Hermione pulled her wand from her pocket. Everyone had their eyes on the midair duel between Draco and Harry. Now Harry was diving expertly, about to catch the rememberall and land safely. Pansy's eyes glinted malevolently as she raised her wand.
"Expelliarmus," she whispered. Her disarming charm wasn't powerful enough to send Pansy's wand souring through the air like it was supposed to, mainly because she had whispered it, but it did the trick. Pansy's wand was knocked from her hand as if someone had bumped into her. It gave Harry plenty of time to get down to the ground without any interference. Everyone was applauding and slapping Harry on the back until…
"Harry Potter!" It was the unmistakable voice of Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall. Her outraged cry was so unexpected it caused Hermione and several other students to jump.
Apparently she had seen everything and the look in her eyes told everyone that she was far from pleased. Despite protests from all of the Gryffindors present, she dragged Harry off into the castle.
"You Jerk!" Hermione whirled on Malfoy in an instant. "This is all your fault. You should have gotten punished too! And you," she said spitefully to Pansy. "I know what you were up to."
"And what are you going to do about it Hermione," Pansy retorted snidely.
Hermione raised her hand to slap the girl but then she heard the distant blow of a whistle.
"That will be enough from you two." Madam Hooch had returned. "Back to your brooms, all of you. This lesson isn't over."
Hermione stormed back to her spellotaped broom, fuming and well aware of Pansy's silent giggles behind her. Her mind was already racing to form a plan to get her back. To her great delight, the opportunity came just before the end of the lesson.
As it turned out, flying wasn't nearly as difficult as she thought it would be. Twenty minutes into the lesson, Madam Hooch had them hovering slowly over the courtyard practicing altitude control.
Hermione was high in the air now. The wind was much stronger up here and she used this as a chance to practice controlling her broom. She was getting very good at it.
Pansy Parkinson shot up to where she was. "Ooo, Hermione, better not fly too high. You may end up just like fat crybaby Neville," she shouted over the wind.
"You're a snake; you and all your Slytherin friends. I don't know how you did it but I saw you cast some sort of spell on Neville's broom."
"The great Hermione Granger doesn't know something?" Pansy teased. She moved her broomstick towards Hermione's.
Afraid she was going to try something, Hermione whipped out her wand instinctively.
Pansy laughed but stopped moving. "You are a big baby aren't you? Just like all the Gryffindors. If I'd wanted to knock you off that broom, I'd have done it a long time ago. I was just going to tell you how I got Neville, seeing as how I know you can't bare not to know something." She was still shouting over the wind.
This gave Hermione an idea. She muttered, "sonorous," before putting her wand away.
Pansy laughed again, completely mishearing Hermione's spell. "Ooh, aren't we polite dear, but you don't have to say sorry to me. It's not your fault you're a nothing little muggle-born half-breed. And as for Longbottom, I didn't have to enchant his broom, all I had to do was put a hovering charm on him, he was such a nervous little baby, I knew he'd immediately grab onto his broom and everyone would think he just couldn't control it."
"You're get yours," Hermione said scowling.
"You wish." Pansy gave her a wicked grin. "Like anyone would ever believe you."
Just then they heard the familiar whistle of Madam Hooch calling them back to the ground.
Hermione made sure she went down behind Pansy. She pulled out her wand again, making sure to keep one hand firmly on her broom. "Quietus," she muttered as she pointed the wand at Pansy's back. Hopefully that did the trick.
"That's it for today's lesson and Ms. Parkinson, come with me," Madam Hooch had a rare look of pure anger in her eyes.
Pansy was completely surprised. "What?"
Madam Hooch grabbed her by the arm and dragged her towards the castle. "Of all the nerve, casting a spell on Neville, you should be ashamed of yourself. We'll see how funny you think it is to hurt another student when you're serving a full week of detention in the hospital wing; and 50 points from Slytherin."
"Why'd she have to open her big mouth and shout about it for the whole class to hear?" Malfoy said angrily. "That stupid girl."
The Gryffindors were all laughing. "And to think she would have gotten away with it if she'd just kept her mouth shut instead of gloating about it to Hermione," Ron said. "Guess she didn't know the wind would carry her voice like that. I can't wait to tell Harry. Maybe McGonagall'll ease up on his punishment when she finds out the whole story." The other Gryffindors nodded in agreement.
Hermione opened her mouth to tell them that it was she who had tricked Pansy using the sonorous spell that she'd learned from "Magical Theory" but once again no one was listening to her. She sighed; no one ever listened to the mouthy know-it-all. She had single handedly saved Harry earlier and gotten revenge on Pansy and no one would ever know. Harry's reckless heroism had earned him, if possible, even more fame among the students, but her cleaver spell work had profited her nothing. She was still just as unpopular and just as invisible.
"Bloody unfair," she sighed as she walked into the castle a few feet behind the rest of the Gryffindors.