Chapter Summary: More summer adventures for Hermione. I'm really just passing the time until the school year starts. In this chapter Hermione goes to a slumber party with her favorite roommates. Will she be able to survive 18 hours with a bunch of giggling girls? Read closely and you'll see I've introduced a few things that will be important in the story later.
--- Begin Fic Here ---
"Hermione,
Have you heard from Harry at all this summer? I haven't gotten an owl from him yet and Erroll's come back empty clawed. I don't know if he even got my letter at all. Erroll's already lost two letters this summer. I was thinking that you might have better luck getting in contact with Harry seeing as how my owl's a bit old. Or maybe there is some muggle way you could contact him? In any case let me know what you find out and don't forget to tell Harry about coming to my house for his birthday.
Ron"
Hermione glanced down at the decrepit owl, Erroll, now sprawled out beside her on the sitting room couch. It was true that the Weasley's owl was definitely old and almost out of the post business, but she strongly suspected that this wasn't the entire problem. It was likely that Harry's aunt and uncle might be preventing him from using his owl, Hedwig, as well. She remembered all the stories Harry used to tell her about his guardians locking him in a cupboard under the staircase and how they feared his magical heritage. Maybe they had done the same thing this summer as soon as he had gotten back home. If Harry couldn't use his owl and Erroll missed a delivery, it would explain the lack of contact.
Hermione gave one last look to the feeble owl beside her and then headed back up to her room. She pulled a quill, ink bottle, and some parchment from the open school bag by her desk. Ever since she had started school, she'd stopped using regular pens and paper and now writing with long feather quills was second nature to her and surprisingly faster. She thought for a moment before dipping her quill in the ink and starting a letter to Harry.
"Dear Harry;
Ron and I were wondering if you were okay. Neither of us has heard from you this summer and we're both worried. Ron wrote you a little over a week ago to ask you if you wanted to visit him this summer for your birthday. Did you get that letter? His owl is old so if you haven't gotten it I wouldn't be surprised or if you did and tried to write Ron back, he didn't get a response.
I'm guessing that you can't use Hedwig for one reason or another. I hope your aunt and uncle haven't done anything terrible to her. In any case if you can't use her to write to us, I'm enclosing some wizard's stamps. All you have to do is write a letter like normal, put it in an envelope and place one of these stamps on it. An owl will come to you and pick it up within a few hours. I hope to hear from you soon.
Love from,
Hermione"
She re-read the letter she had just written, making sure it didn't sound too panicked or worried. She put four wizard's stamps in the envelope. That was half the stamps she had left. She then took one of her remaining stamps and placed it on the envelope for her letter to Harry. There was no chance she'd risk sending her letter with Erroll. She then took out another piece of parchment and wrote a quick note to Ron telling him that she'd sent a letter to Harry and that hopefully they'd both get a reply soon.
It took Erroll several hours to recover and by the time he left with her letter to Ron, the post owl that magically responded to the wizard's stamp had also come and gone. Hermione's mom appeared from the kitchen and called her to dinner.
"Busy post day?" Mrs. Granger said as the three of them sat down to dinner.
"Yes, I just got a letter from Ron. Harry hasn't written either of us yet this summer. I think maybe they're keeping him from using his owl somehow. They might have him locked up again. I hope he's okay."
"Barbaric," Mr. Granger muttered. Ever since Hermione had told her parents about Harry's home life, her father in particular had been angered at how supposedly civilized people could treat a child in such a way. Hermione had always gotten the impression before that her father thought Harry to be a bad influence at school, but now he seemed to have lightened up on the issue and she was glad for that.
"Well dear," Mrs. Granger said encouragingly. "From what you've told us, Harry is quite capable of taking care of himself. I'm sure he can handle whatever his aunt and uncle throw at him."
Hermione nodded numbly, imagining Harry in a small locked cupboard, getting very little to eat and having to live with spiders and no light. "I guess; I just worry about him. I just sent him an owl today with some stamps. If he can't use Hedwig, at least he can use the stamps to write us letters."
"You know, not to sound 'anti-wizard' but perhaps there is a more, shall we say, technological solution to your problem here," Her father said knowingly.
Hermione gave him a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"
Mr. Granger laughed and waved a fork haphazardly towards the wall. "The phone, Hermione, the phone."
Hermione raised a hand to her head. "I never thought of that. Harry and I are both from muggle families. We both have phones."
"What will those muggles think of next," Mrs. Granger laughed.
"Never forget that there are still some useful things in the non-wizarding world, Hermione." Mr. Granger said seriously.
"In any case, I'm sure you'll hear from Harry soon." Just as Mrs. Granger said this, there was a light tapping on the window. All three turned to see a small brown owl with red highlights at the kitchen window.
"Uh," Hermione looked around at her parents. Her father looked annoyed at the fact that an owl was disturbing their dinner. It tapped at the window again and seeing as how she had no choice, Hermione went for the window and let it in. The owl had a sparkling blue letter tied to its leg.
Hermione was about to bring it back with her when her father gave her a curt, "No owls at the table while we're eating."
"Oh fine," Hermione took the letter from the owl and let it out the window again.
"Who is it from?" Mrs. Granger asked as Hermione returned to her seat.
"I don't know," she said examining the envelope, which only had her name on it. Wizarding letters rarely had return addresses on them. "It can't be from Harry. I just wrote him a couple of hours ago."
"Well go ahead and open it, seeing as our dinner's already been disturbed," her father said with a bite of impatience.
Hermione tried her best not to roll her eyes as she opened the envelope. What happened when she did was truly unexpected. Music exploded from the envelope and soon there was a voice to match. It sounded like some sort of cheesy commercial.
"Feeling like you have nothing to do over the summer holidays? Can't use magic, can't visit Diagon Alley, can't even go see a quidditch game? Well your boredom days are about to end because Lavender Brown is throwing a party and you're invited. That's right! It's going to be 18 hours of non stop girl fun. Not to be missed! So be there or be hexed!"
Just as quickly as it started, it ended. The music stopped and the envelope fluttered down to the tabletop, dormant.
"Uh…" Hermione glanced from her mother to her father, waiting for some sort of response.
Mr. Granger had a look on his face that clearly indicated he had seen one too many surprising things that day. He stared blankly for a moment and then, as if nothing had happened, turned to his daughter and said, "Would you please pass the butter?"
Hermione didn't hesitate to comply and then silently returned to her food, eating as fast as she possibly could now. She wanted to avoid the inevitable conversation that would occur when her parents finally got over the initial shock.
She wasn't fast enough. "Well," Mrs. Granger started finally. "It'd be nice to get out of the house wouldn't it? See some of your other friends."
Hermione shrugged. "Um, I guess." She started shoveling food into her mouth much faster now. Her mother gave her a quizzical look.
"Well if you ask me, the time could be better spent studying." Mr. Granger said irritably. "Just because it's summer doesn't mean your mind should be on vacation."
"Oh dear…" her mother sighed.
"Dad's probably right," Hermione agreed hastily. "I mean I already had Anne over, and I'm planning to go to Ron's for Harry's birthday. Don't want to overdo it." She threw her napkin down on the table. "Can I be excused?" She grabbed the letter and headed out the kitchen without another word.
------
Hermione lay on her bed, examining the envelope from Lavender. She found that inside there was an actual piece of parchment, giving all the information about the party. It was going to be July 24, a week before Harry's birthday, at 3 PM. From what she guessed it was some sort of slumber party that would last until 9 AM the following morning and the guest list seemed to include Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff girls; primarily the ones going into second year.
Of course there was no reason why she couldn't go. Despite what her father had said at the dinner table, she knew she could convince him to let her go. Being top of her class last year had earned her a few perks and she was doing her best to exploit her father's generous mood as often as possible.
No, it wasn't that.
Though her school experience was far better than her primary school days, she still wasn't exactly the most liked person at Hogwarts. Mostly, her classmates just tolerated her; she suspected this was mainly because she was one of Harry Potter's best friends. She got along with her roommates well enough, but they were far from close. Ever since the beginning of the school year, Parvati had been trying to get in Harry's good graces with no success. So of course when Hermione and Harry suddenly became best friends, it sent her roommate into a frenzy and Hermione immediately became the most envied and hated first year girl in the entire school. It was a little known fact that you never crossed a Patil twin, unless you wanted wild rumors spread about you all over school.
Ever since then, Hermione's social status had been a roller coaster of ups and downs. There were times when her roommates wouldn't even speak to her and other times when they would fawn over her as if she were a celebrity. They were definitely fickle and Hermione couldn't stand fickle people. She knew the only reason she got this invitation was because they were still glowing over the fact that Hermione helped Gryffindor win the house cup and also because she helped Harry save the Sorcerer's Stone from Voldemort. Otherwise, even if she and her roommates were on speaking terms, she probably still wouldn't have gotten invited.
"Why should I go hang out with my flakey roommates and a bunch of girls who've barely said two words to me all year?" she thought to herself.
There was a knock on her door. "Hermione?" It was her mother. Mrs. Granger opened the door, not bothering to wait for her daughter's response.
"No, I don't want to talk about it," Hermione said immediately as her mother took a seat beside her on the bed. "You wouldn't understand."
"Hermione, believe it or not, I was a kid once too and I went through the same problems you did when it came down to making friends, you know. Remember, you get part of your 'challenging' personality from me."
Hermione could never understand how her sweet, caring, and extremely patient mother could have ever been anything like her when she was younger. She always imagined that she took after her father in that respect, but her father apparently never had any problems making friends even though he was just as big a know-it-all in his youth as she was now.
She sighed. "It's just… Lavender, I mean I don't think she really wants me at her party."
"Oh then why would she invite you then?" Mrs. Granger asked matter-of-factly.
"Because I'm 'Hermione Granger' the girl who saved Harry Potter's life, and helped save the Sorcerer's Stone from Voldemort, and helped win the house cup," she said in exasperation. "She has to invite me. I'm popular now, or at least until everyone forgets what happens in a few months. Then I'll probably have to save the school from a dragon to get people to like me again."
"So what you're saying is, you don't want to go because they're only inviting you because you're popular?" Mrs. Granger summed up. "You know, I remember a year ago you would have died to have this kind of popularity.
"This isn't what I wanted," Hermione almost shouted. "I don't want to just be popular. I mean; most of those girls don't even know me other than the rumors and stories that've been flying around. It's not like they're really my friends like Harry is."
"Well Hermione, if I'm not mistaken, the only way you can get to know someone is by being around them. So these girls aren't your friends now, but that doesn't mean they couldn't become your friends after spending a little time with you." She took the invitation off the bed and perused it quickly. "See, a slumber party is the perfect opportunity for some quality girl bonding. You can show them what the real Hermione is like."
"Oh you mean the bossy, know-it-all, stuffy Hermione that we all know and love?" Hermione said huffily.
"You must have some good qualities in there somewhere; why else would Harry be your friend?"
"Drat!" she hated it when her mother used logic against her.
"Well, how am I going to get to this party anyway," She pointed to the address on the invitation. "Lavender doesn't live close. You and Dad'll be at work. It's not like I can use magic to get there, even if I knew a way to do it."
Mrs. Granger rubbed her daughter's bushy brown hair lovingly. "Hermione, you're a clever little witch. I'm sure you'll think of something."
That was her last objection. "Well, I guess…"
"Hermione, you don't have to go but…" her mother grinned. "I can't see why you wouldn't want to. This is a chance for you to show them what you're really like, and maybe make a few new friends in the process. I think you could use a few female friends." With that, her mother stood and left the room.
Hermione sighed and looked down at the invitation again. Could she really survive eighteen hours with Lavender, the Patil twins and a bunch of giggling girls who would probably spend all their time talking about Hogwarts' boys? Then again, she had to live with Lavender and Parvati for six more school terms. It would be beneficial to be on good terms with them. And maybe her mother was right. Maybe she could make some new female friends. Not every Hogwarts girl was like Lavender and Parvati, right?
She turned the invitation over where there was a form for her to RSVP. She grabbed the quill from her desk and quickly scribbled her reply and a quick note to Lavender saying she would need a 'lift' to the party. She placed a wizard's stamp on the invitation and waited for an owl to come pick it up.
As she lay in bed, Hermione thought about how her holiday had turned out so far. She thought she would be spending the whole summer studying for the following school term, but as it was, she hadn't even touched the extra research that McGonagall had sent her. She felt like she was being extremely lazy. Well even with Lavender's party in a few days and visiting Ron the following week for Harry's birthday, she'd still have the whole month of August to study. That should be enough.
Just as she was about to prepare for bed, she heard the tale-tell tapping on her bedroom window. The post owl had come for her reply to Lavender. It left a few minutes later with the parchment clamped firmly in its beak. Hermione sighed again as she watched the owl glide through the night sky.
-----
That following Friday morning, Hermione was double checking her bag to make sure she had everything. She packed a set of pajamas, a pillow, a set of clothes for the next day, and a swimsuit, because Lavender's invitation had mentioned something about going in their pool. She made sure not to bring any of her school books. The last thing she wanted them to think was that she was always studying, even if that was fairly true.
Instead she decided to bring some of things she got from the Wizard's World Fair including her charcoal portrait and the Gilderoy Lockhart book she bought and already read half of during the past few days.
Her mother and father had of course left earlier that morning wishing her well on her trip. Lavender had written back earlier that week to let her know that a Ravenclaw first year girl, Mandy Brocklehurst, lived very close to her and her family agreed to handle transporting Hermione to the party. Mandy herself had written the day before to tell her that they would be arriving at 2:30 on Friday. All the arrangements had been made.
Hermione had never met Mandy before but when the doorbell rang at 2:30 and Hermione opened the door, she immediately recognized the short, long-haired, brunette that stood there.
"Hi Hermione," she said with a wide grin. "My folks are just out in the car waiting."
"Car?" Hermione repeated vaguely. She didn't know that wizard's drove cars. Wasn't that strictly a muggle device? But before she could question further, Mandy was already headed back to what was indeed a small, four-door blue car. Hermione grabbed her bag and keys and rushed towards the open car door. She climbed in and slammed the door behind her.
"Hi there," A woman, who was obviously Mandy's mother called from the front passenger seat. "It's nice to meat you, Hermione."
Mr. Brocklehurst was at the wheel. "It'll only take us a few minutes to get back to the house. Then you girls can floo to the Brown's."
"Thanks for picking me up, Mr. and Mrs. Brocklehurst," Hermione said politely.
"Not a problem dear," Mrs. Brocklehurst. "We witches and wizards have to stick together; don't we now?"
Mandy's parents were soon engaged in their own conversation giving Hermione the chance to lean over and have a hushed conversation with Mandy.
"You're parents aren't muggles are they? I mean they don't act like it, but… this car?"
Mandy let out a giggle. "Oh no, they're magic for sure, it's just my father's job. He has to work with muggles a lot so he knows a lot about them and he has muggle transportation so he can fit in."
"Really?" Hermione was intrigued. "What does your dad do?"
"He's a type of wizard investigator. Basically, he hunts down and retrieves magical items that have fallen into muggle hands. He's an independent but he does get a lot of jobs from the ministry."
"And you live near here?"
"Well, sort of. We live on Turnkey Lane," Mandy told her.
"Turnkey Lane? I've never heard of it. How far is it from here?"
"Well it's kind of hard to explain. Pretty much all streets around here connect to Turnkey Lane. It's one of the more accessible wizarding neighborhoods in the area. It's really nice, we just moved there three years ago. We lived in Godric's Hollow before that but I definitely have more friends here." Mandy was interrupted by a jarring bump and a brief flash. "Oh we're here."
Hermione stared out the window, upset that she had missed whatever the Brocklehursts had done to make the transition to Turnkey Lane. All of the houses looked fairly normal to her, like standard suburban muggle architecture. It was hard to believe that this was a wizarding neighborhood until she saw some small children playing outside on what looked like miniature broomsticks. Hermione strongly suspected that even though the outside of the houses looked normal, the interiors were a different story.
She would soon be able to test this theory because a few seconds later the Brocklehursts pulled into the driveway of a small one story house with lime colored aluminum siding.
Mandy led Hermione inside the house, but at first sight, there wasn't anything particularly odd about the décor. The sitting room could definitely pass for muggle if it weren't for the green fire that was blazing in the fireplace and the owl sleeping on a tall perch in a corner.
There was also the clock on the wall, or what looked like a clock except it seemed to do everything except tell time. It had three rings of what would normally be numbers and three hands to go with each ring. The outermost ring seemed to be the closest to actually telling time as it had small phrases on it like "time for dinner," "don't forget the promise you made," and "you're almost late." The middle ring had small pictures on it that were used to indicate the current weather. The innermost ring had short phrases as well and from what Hermione could tell, it was some sort of home security system because they said things like "All Secure," "Uninvited Stranger in House," and "Emergency!" Currently the clock's hands were set to "You're Almost Late," a picture of the sun, indicating nice weather, and "Family and Guests in Home."
Mrs. Brocklehurst glanced at the clock Hermione had been staring at. "Oh dear," she looked at her own watch. "You girls are almost late for the party. Mandy, dear, go on and grab your bag. Hermione do you want to call your parents before you go? I doubt the Browns will have a muggle telephone."
Hermione nodded but was confused when Mrs. Brocklehurst handed her the phone off the coffee table. "There's no phone line connected to this." She picked up the receiver and there was indeed a dial tone "How is it working?"
"Muggle phone companies don't know about this place, of course," Mr. Brocklehurst explained. "So we make it work with magic. Beats paying the bloody phone bills." He gave a hearty chuckle.
Hermione dialed her parent's office and got the receptionist. After a few minutes on hold, her mother picked up. "Hi mum, just wanted you to know that I'm about to floo to Lavender's so I probably won't talk to you again until tomorrow morning."
Her mother answered with a "Have fun, dear" just as Mandy was coming down the stairs.
Hermione said a quick goodbye and then proceeded to the fireplace with Mandy.
Mrs. Brocklehurst came from the kitchen with a small container. "Now Hermione, do you know how floo powder works?"
"Oh yes ma'am, I read all about it in 'Magical Transportation in the 20th Century,'" Hermione said before she could stop herself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," she chastised mentally. "I've got to stop doing that!" She was of course nervous seeing as how this was the first time she'd actually used floo powder.
"Well then," Mrs. Brocklehurst said. "All you need to know is that when you use the powder say 'The Browns' because that's where you're going."
Hermione nodded as Mandy, who had already taken some of the powder, stepped up to the fireplace and threw it in. The green flames seemed to jump with new life and now had a hint of blue and yellow in them.
She stepped boldly into the fire and shouted "The Browns." and disappeared in a mixture of fire and smoke.
Hermione hesitantly took a pinch of floo powder and proceeded towards the fireplace. She threw it in and once again, the flames seemed to jump with new life. She really hated the idea of walking directly into a roaring fire but not wanting to seem like she didn't know what she was doing, she stepped into the fireplace. She was pleasantly surprised when she didn't feel even the heat of the flames lapping up around her. Careful not to get any smoke in her mouth, Hermione shouted "The Browns."
What happened was both completely shocking and completely unexpected. Suddenly Hermione was spinning faster than she'd ever spun before. She couldn't see anything except brick and mortar and she was so dizzy, she felt like she was going to be sick. Trying to remember everything she had read, she tucked her arms in to keep from being bruised by the enclosed space she was traveling it. Everything was a blur now. Her head was pounding, her heart was beating hard in her chest and she shut her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see the spinning scene anymore.
Just when she thought she couldn't bear it any longer, she felt herself slowing down and then, she came abruptly to a halt. It happened so fast that Hermione tumbled out the fireplace and landed flat on her face in the crowded sitting room of Lavender Brown's house.
-----
"Hermione… Hermione are you okay?" Hermione would have recognized the voice anywhere. It was Parvati Patil. She felt herself being pulled to her feet.
"Why oh why did I have to fall on my face in front of everyone!" Hermione thought as she looked around at the sea of faces in front of her. There had to be a dozen girls in the room. It looked like everyone had arrived before her so they all had the opportunity to see what a complete and utter idiot she was.
"I'm fine," Hermione said shaking the helping hands away. "Just one more occasion this summer that I wish I could use my wand." She was covered with soot from head to toe.
"Covered," said a girl who was pushing her way through the crowd. She was much older than the rest and was wielding her wand, which meant she was obviously a fully qualified witch. She waved her wand at Hermione and immediately she was clean again.
Lavender was next to her. "This is my cousin Amber; she just graduated from Hogwarts this past year. She was in Ravenclaw."
Hermione eyed her curiously. "You were head girl weren't you?"
Amber nodded. "My aunt and uncle commissioned me to keep track of you lot." Another girl stepped up beside her and she looked slightly younger than Amber. "This is my friend Penny. She's in Hogwarts too, going into sixth year. She's going to help me."
"You're Hermione Granger aren't you?" Penny said immediately.
Hermione gave her a stunned look. "Uh, yes."
"Oh yeah, you're the one who solved Snape's riddle and helped Harry Potter beat 'you know who,'" Amber said. "I knew I recognized you. You're pretty famous you know."
Hermione's confusion grew as both Amber and Penny shook her hand. "I am?"
"Oh yeah, they're saying there's no spell you can't master. You're going to be head girl for sure you know."
Hermione could barely keep herself from blushing as Amber praised her. "Finally, someone who doesn't think being smart is a bad thing." Amber definitely seemed like a cool person.
"Well everyone's here now," Lavender announced, "So how about you all throw your bags in the rec room and we can change and go out to the pool."
Everyone grabbed their bags and followed Lavender out of the sitting room.
-----
Lavender's pool was huge, larger than an Olympic size pool and it had slides and other attachments that reminded Hermione of some of the rides from the Wizard's World Fair. No one else seemed particularly impressed by the size of the pool and Hermione wondered if it was because wizarding families could have pools this size because of magic or because Lavender's family was just well-to-do. In either case, it was the biggest pool Hermione had ever been in. She decided to lie on an air mattress and talk to a Hufflepuff girl named Hannah. The two older girls, Amber and Penny were making lunch on a magical grill beside the pool. Amber was doing most of the work since she was the only one who could use her wand.
Hermione watched as some of the girls took turns jumping down a long tube into the pool and she wondered vaguely if it was anything like the "Giant Drop" at the Wizard's World Fair. Just as she was thinking this, Lavender, Padma, and a few other girls swam over to them.
"How come you aren't swimming, Hermione?" Padma asked playfully. "Don't like the water." She started to splash the two girls.
Parvati swam up to them. "You should try the tube. It's fun."
Hermione shook her head vehemently. "Oh no! That thing reminds me too much of a ride at the Wizard's World Fair. One that I'd like to forget, thank you very much." Everyone's mouths dropped. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"You went to the Wizard's World Fair?" one of the girls asked in shock. "In Florida?"
"That's so awesome. My parents never let me go. They say it's too dangerous."
"I heard the tickets were a fortune, almost as much as the Quidditch World Cup."
"You've got to tell us all about it."
All of the girls were gathering around her float now, eager for Hermione to tell her story.
Lavender was looking over at her cousin. "I think the food is ready; anybody hungry?"
Mandy's stomach seemed to growl on cue. "Yeah I am. Come on, Hermione can tell us all about the fair while we eat; right Hermione?"
"Uh sure, I guess." Hermione said as she slid off the raft into the pool to swim back with the rest of the girls. Her eyes were fixed on Lavender who had an extremely strained look on her face.
-----
The girls insisted on hearing all about the fair. Even Penny was intrigued as she'd never been to a fair either. Hermione went back inside and brought out the portrait that the Chinese wizard had made of her. Everyone agreed it was an excellent likeness. She then told them about her stolen wand.
"So that kid took your wand just because you wouldn't hang out with him?" A girl named Megan asked Hermione as she told her story. "How rude!"
"How did you know it was him?" Hannah asked.
"I don't know." Hermione shrugged. "I just sort of remembered him bumping into me."
"That was really amazing how you got it back," Hannah said.
"Well when you hang around Harry Potter you learn a thing or two about flying, I'm sure," Parvati added and Hermione could hear a hint of resentment in her voice. She could only guess that she was still upset at how close she was to Harry.
Hermione was glad to see that the other girls didn't seem too upset about this though. Still, she hated always being associated with Harry. I mean of course he was her best friend, but she was her own person. It wasn't like they did everything together; did they? She thought about this for a moment.
"I do spend almost all my time with Harry and Ron, but that's because they're my only friends. Then again, it's not like I tried to make any other friends. But it's not like anyone wanted to be friends with me anyway; not Hermione Grange, the brain. But still…" she looked around at all the girls sitting on the patio laughing and joking, retelling stories about the previous school year. They were all friends but Hermione really wasn't part of this group. She was just an outsider. That was probably why Lavender was glaring at her earlier. She didn't want Hermione there because she wasn't part of the group. "I knew it; she only invited me because she had to, because I'd be the only one left out. Poor little muggle born Hermione; she's barely got any friends so we better invite her or she'll miss out on all the fun."
"Do you remember that, Hermione?" one of the girls, Lisa, asked her.
"Huh, remember what?"
"That Slytherin girl, Millicent, what she did at Halloween dinner; it was hilarious."
"Oh I wasn't around for the Halloween feast. I was uh... busy… with a troll,' she said vaguely. She was still watching Lavender watch her.
"The troll? What do you mean?" Penny seemed to have had her interest peaked again. "Why weren't you in your common room with the rest of your housemates?"
Something familiar in Penny's voice made Hermione ask. "Are you a prefect?"
Amber let out a harsh laugh. "Oy, 'Perfect Prefect Penny.'"
"Well anyway, I didn't know the troll was around until it stormed into the girl's bathroom where I was at."
"She'd been in there all afternoon, crying," Padma added matter-of-factly.
Hermione shot her a "why did you have to tell them that?" look but Mandy, who didn't seem to have heard the comment said. "So you saw the troll?" as if she had seen the Pope.
"Yeah, something I never want to see again. They're ugly, and smelly, and they have gray boogers," she said in disgust.
"Ewwww!" all the girls chimed.
"Okay, no more talk about trolls," Padma said, pretending to gag, "I just finished eating."
"Speaking of such, now what should we do?" Lisa asked. "We've got a long time before bed?"
"We'll we've got some games," Amber told them.
"I think some of the girls brought stuff too," Lavender added.
"Did you bring anything, Hermione?" Mandy asked, much to Hermione's chagrin.
"Uh…" Hermione looked down at her bag which she had brought out earlier to retrieve her wizard's portrait. The only thing she had other than clothes was the Gilderoy Lockhart book.
Mandy followed Hermione's eyes downward and saw the book as well. "Ooo, what's this?" She snatched the book up.
"Who goes around snatching other people's things? Didn't her mum teach her manners?"
"Hermione," Parvati huffed. "Can't you go anywhere without a bo..." she came to stand behind them. "Gilderoy Lockhart? You've got 'Magical Me?" But it's only just come out."
There was an immediate rush of all the girls to where Mandy and Hermione were sitting. Even Amber and Penny couldn't contain their excitement.
"Oh he's so handsome."
"And brave."
"And charming"
"I wish I could meet him."
"What's the book like Hermione?"
-----
They rest of the evening was spent playing various wizarding games while the girls discussed school, Hogwarts boys, and Gilderoy Lockhart. As dusk turned to night, Amber appeared in the room holding a small mirror and announced that she had a good game for them to play.
"It's really best done at nighttime because it's a freaky game," she said as ominously as she could with the grin on her face.
All of the girls stared at her with blank looks. Amber quickly arranged them in a circle and put the small mirror in the center. "Now, do you girls know what this is?"
"It's a mirror," Lavender said blandly, and she was right. It was a small round mirror with a gold plated back. There seemed to be nothing extraordinary about it.
Amber sighed. "Hermione?"
"It's an Ouija Mirror," Hermione answered immediately. "But, they don't really work, do they? It's just a party trick."
"Or is it?" Amber said with a twinkle in her eyes. "This is a special Ouija Mirror that I bought when I vacationed in Egypt. They say it works better than the regular ones. We'll find out tonight. Okay listen up girls; this is how you play. Everyone hold up your wand arms and put your concentration solely on the mirror." They all did as she said and to their surprise the mirror began to levitate. "The magic is in the mirror itself. You're just using your own raw magical power to give the mirror a bit of direction. Now here are the rules. You make the mirror turn so that the looking glass is facing one of you. Then that person asks a question, any question you want to ask it. The mirror shows you the answer."
"But does it really work?" Mandy asked rubbing her arm, which was already growing tired.
"Well that depends," Amber said with a gleam in her eyes. "The mirror is supposed to give a true answer or what it believes to be the truth, but of course it has all the thoughts and ideas of the people around, feeding it, so the answer it gives could be real or just someone's stray thoughts. The only way to be sure is to make sure that all of you clear your minds, don't try to guide the mirror's answer in any way, and then it will show the truth."
"Cool," the girl beside Hermione, Megan, said. "So who goes first?"
"Concentrate on the mirror, and it will pick the first from your thoughts," Amber told them again.
They did as she said. The mirror floated idly for a moment and then it began to rotate until the looking glass faced Lavender.
"And appropriately so, seeing as how this is her party and all, she should probably go first." Hermione thought to herself. She knew she had been thinking of Lavender and guessed that the others were doing the same.
"What will my life be like in ten years," Lavender asked the mirror. Immediately there was a flash of light from the looking glass. Lavender's eyes widened as she took in whatever the mirror was showing her.
After five minutes of waiting, the mirror flashed again and Lavender's eyes returned to normal. The mirror continued to hover idly.
"What did you see?" Parvati pressed.
"Loads," Lavender panted. "I saw me and I was working at this store, I think I owned it. I had a little baby, but I didn't see who I was married to. It all went so fast, but… whoa what a rush. You've got to try this."
Everyone began concentrating on the mirror again and this time it turned to face Parvati. Her question came out
immediately. "Will Harry Potter ever ask me out?"
"Not on your life, girlie." Hermione thought to herself. There was a flash and Parvati beamed.
"What did it say?" Padma asked.
"Only one word: Yes." All the girls began giggling, except Hermione who was convinced someone was feeding that particular answer.
The mirror continued around the circle. One girl asked if she'd ever meet Gilderoy Lockhart, the answer that came back was a yes. Another asked the mirror to show her what she'd look like in six years. She seemed pleased with the results. As the mirror turned to the two girls on either side of her, Hermione noticed that even though she was staring right at the looking glass, she couldn't see what was shown to her neighbors. Amber explained that only the one asking the question could see the answer.
Finally, the mirror turned to face her. By this time everyone else had gone. It was very dark now and for some strange reason the mirror looked somewhat ominous.
"Go ahead Hermione," Mandy prompted. "Ask the mirror something."
Hermione's mind drew a blank. She had had almost an hour to think of a question but nothing appropriate came to mind. She could ask it if she would become head girl or be a prefect, but she didn't want to ask that kind of question in front of these girls. She could ask the mirror what her distant future would be like, but several of the other girls had asked that, and she wasn't sure if she'd trust the results anyway. She didn't really believe the mirror showed anything beyond the hopes and aspirations of the questioner. Still she figured she should at least play along.
"Okay then; what will my second year be like? Will it be anything like my first? What's going to happen?" She figured that was a generic enough question.
The mirror didn't respond. Its looking glass was cloudy and didn't even reflect her face. Then a pair of dark yellow eyes appeared. They seemed to be looking into her very soul. Hermione gasped. She was transfixed, almost frozen as the eyes continued to boar into her. Then suddenly it was as if the mirror had grown so big that the looking glass blocked her entire field of vision. The room around her had faded away and was replaced with a new scene.
Then, she saw Harry right in front of her. He was bruised and bleeding and in one hand he held a sword. He was screaming in pain. Had he been in some sort of fight? Then as quickly as it happened, it was over. She was back in the room with the other girls; the mirror clattered to the floor. Everyone was staring at her, and she realized she was breathing heavily.
"Hermione, did you see anything. The mirror didn't flash or anything. Did it show you something?" Mandy was asking.
"What in the world was it that I just saw? Did the mirror really work? It can't have. That was just my paranoia about Harry being in danger. It's not real."
"Well?" Mandy prompted her again.
There was no way she was going to tell the girls what she really saw. "I uh… it didn't work. I didn't see anything," she lied. "I guess I confused it, or maybe it's because I don't really believe it works."
"Oh too bad," Lisa said as the girls began to stretch. They'd spent over an hour holding they're wand arms up. "Want to try again?"
"No," Hermione said immediately. "It's okay. I'm fine, really." She noticed Amber was staring at her. She could tell the look instantly. Amber knew she was lying.
After a few seconds, she broke off her stare and collected her Ouija Mirror. "Well, hope you girls had fun. I'll let you get back to your own games."
-----
Later that evening, the girls told ghost stories. Hermione had never heard anything like these wizarding tales of horror. It was far worse than anything that could be thought of in the muggle world.
"And he was cursed to read the same page in the book forever!" Padma finished dramatically.
"Wicked," some of the girls gasped.
"Proving that sometimes reading can be dangerous," Lavender said poignantly. "You should remember that Hermione."
"Speaking of such," Megan said suddenly. "Hermione, you should tell your story?"
"My story?" Hermione repeated, wondering if she wanted to hear a ghost story. "I don't know any."
"Not that kind of story," Megan said shaking her head. "Your story. The story of how you and Harry Potter saved the Sorcerer's Stone."
"Oh that story," Hermione sighed. She knew this would be coming sooner or later. If it were Ron, he'd be more than willing to recount with great detail the events of that fateful night to anyone who showed the slightest interest. She'd witnessed this for herself many times in the common room in the days that followed the end of year feast. Of course when people found out that he'd been unconscious for part of the adventure they quickly lost interest, much to Ron's chagrin. They usually harassed Hermione for the details because they knew she'd been there for almost the entire time, and that she knew everything that happened, even the parts where Harry was alone. No one wanted to ask Harry for the story because the whole ordeal had raised him to the heights of an untouchable celebrity and people were afraid to approach him on the subject.
After what seemed like a thousand times, Hermione was sick of hearing herself tell the story. Plus she hated reliving Harry's brush with death over and over again. But as she looked around at the expectant faces in the room, she knew that she'd never get out of it now. To them it wasn't really real; it was all just a grand fairy tale with a happy ending. They didn't have to live through the pain and anguish that she did. They were only seeing things vicariously through her story.
"Well Hermione, are you going to tell the story or not?" Lavender asked impatiently and Hermione could tell she was biting back her growing anger at the girl. It was obvious what she was thinking. She thought Hermione got some great joy out of being the center of attention because of her adventures last year. "It's probably the only reason she invited me. So everyone could hear my story just one more time because that's all I'm good for; telling the adventures of Harry Potter, because after all that's who they're interested in. They don't really want to know about me, they want to know about Harry."
She sighed again. Well if she was going to tell it, she might as well start from the beginning, drag the whole thing out and make a real show of it. That would either make Lavender happy or make her think twice about asking Hermione to tell a story. "Well, it really all started with the troll at Halloween. Did I mention they have gray boogers?" she added just to get the girls' reaction of "ewwwww."
She talked straight through for an hour and a half not missing the slightest detail. The group of girls hung on her every word, not daring to move as Hermione's tale unfolded. Occasionally there would be gasps or screams as Hermione told of the dark creature that attacked Harry in the forbidden forest or the chessmen that nearly decapitated the trio. People shuddered so much when she said Voldemort's name that she quickly reverted to saying "you know who" throughout her story.
When she finished, ending at the part of Harry waking up in the hospital and Sorcerer's Stone finally being destroyed, it was well past midnight and some of the girls were already beginning to nod. A few lay on pillows whispering quietly to one another while others found a quiet corner in the rec room to curl up with their blankets and go to sleep.
Hermione stood and headed for the kitchen. After all the talking she did, she needed a glass of water. When she opened the door, she saw Amber sitting at the counter.
"Well hello. You girls still up?"
"Just about to crash myself," Hermione told her. "Most of the others are doing the same. I just came in here for a glass of water."
Amber stood. "I'll get it for you. Just sit down for a bit. I wanted to talk to you anyway."
Hermione eyed her quizzically as she pulled up a chair and sat down. Amber busied herself with finding a glass and pouring water as she said. "Hermione, what did you really see in the Ouija Mirror this evening. I know you saw something."
Hermione accepted the glass Amber offered her and gulped down half the water before responding. "I don't really want to talk about it. It was a little frightening. Besides it probably wasn't real."
"That's where you're wrong. I'm willing to bet that whatever you saw was far more real than anything the other girls saw. I can tell."
"Tell what?"
"You're a very powerful witch, Hermione. All the signs are there. You've got real potential, and I think your mind is capable of a lot more than just remembering spells and facts. Whatever it is, the mirror picked up on that power and magnified it."
"Do you think I have some sort of rare magical gift? Like perhaps I can 'see' things or something?" Hermione asked, disbelieving it even as she said it.
Amber laughed. "You're a muggle born right, Hermione?" Hermione nodded at this and Amber continued. "My strongest subject was muggle studies, and I know all about their pursuit of science. Science is to muggles what magic is to us witches and wizards. Whenever there is something that can't be explained, muggles use science to try to explain it. We do the same thing with magic, believe it or not. Whenever there is something we can't explain, we try to explain it with magic. Well sometimes no matter how hard muggles try, they can't explain away certain things with science and sometimes no matter how hard wizards try, we can't explain certain things with magic. No, I don't think you can 'see' things or that you are doing some sort of fortune telling or anything like that. That's not the vibe I'm picking up from you. I just think you have a special insight that you need to understand and accept. There is such a thing as fate, Hermione, and it has a funny way of giving us things we don't know how to use. This is something that you'll have to figure out for yourself, but here, maybe this will help." She pulled the Ouija Mirror out of her pocket again. "I want you to have this."
Hermione took the mirror, which now looked just like an ordinary hand mirror, reflecting only her confused expression. "I don't understand. How can this help me? I mean it only works when multiple wizards activate it, right and even then, you can't be sure what kind of answers it'll give."
Amber shrugged. "I don't know really. I just know that it reacted to you. It's not really just an Ouija mirror, you know. I mean it is and it isn't. The Egyptian who sold to me said it was an Ouijigona Mirror, far more powerful. I don't know if that's true or not, but still I think you should have it. Maybe you'll find another use for it."
Hermione stared down at the mirror, remembering the image it had shown her earlier. Maybe Amber was right and this was fate. The image could have been a warning. If Harry was in some sort of trouble, she might be able to help. A sudden thought struck her as she began to pocket the mirror. "You don't think Lavender will be mad, do you? You know because you gave me your mirror and all."
"I won't tell if you don't," Amber winked.
Hermione smiled. "Good, because I don't think I could stand for her to be any angrier with me than she already is. You know I came to this party because I wanted to show that there was more to me than just 'Hermione the Brain' and maybe really make friends with my roommates and the other girls. But I'm beginning to think Lavender feels that no matter what I'll never fit in because I'm not really part of their group."
Amber laughed again. "Hermione, I think you have that completely backwards. Lavender isn't mad because you're not part of the group, she's mad because you are part of the group."
"Huh?" Hermione was genuinely confused.
"Hermione haven't you noticed? All the girls love you. They think you're the most interesting person here. They all want to know your opinions and hear what you have to say. I think little Lavi is just mad that you're the life of her party; if you know what I mean. She's, to put it mildly, jealous that you're so popular with the other girls."
"Well I'm only popular because I'm friends with Harry Potter," Hermione sighed.
"That's not true. These girls like you for you. I've barely heard Harry's name mentioned, but what I have heard is 'Hermione this' and 'Hermione that' and 'Hermione tell us about this.' They all think you're the wickedest girl at this party."
"You think so?" Hermione smiled at the thought.
"I'm positive. These girls have definitely seen a whole new side of you. Don't worry about Lavi, she'll get over it soon enough. She can just be a little spoiled sometimes."
Hermione suppressed a giggle as she slid out of her chair. "Thanks for… everything."
Amber smiled. "No problem. I have to look out for the future head girl, don't I?" They shared a laugh at that comment.
Hermione crept back into the rec room and found that almost everyone was sound asleep or dozing off. She grabbed her pillow and a spare blanket and curled up in a corner near Mandy.
-----
The next morning, Amber woke them all up surprisingly early. "Come on now girlies, I've got to shove breakfast down your throats before you shove off," she said with a corny grin. No one found the joke amusing.
Hermione hated her hair in the morning, it always looked even bushier than normal but when she looked around at the other girls, she realized she wasn't alone when it came down to looking bad in the morning. Everyone made self-degrading comments about how they looked as they gathered in the sitting room to eat breakfast. Hermione was content to remain quiet during this but then suddenly remembered something. She glanced at Amber, recalling their conversation from the previous night and decided to see if she could do something to ease Lavender's jealousy.
"Well if you think this is bad, you should have seen me end of last term," she started loudly, cutting across Lisa. "I mean I was a wreak for a few days there while Harry was in the hospital wing. I definitely wasn't looking or acting my best, that's for sure. It's a good thing I had Lavender and Parvati for roommates," she said pointedly. "They were ever so patient with me, no matter what kind of foul mood I was in, they stuck by me. They didn't hold my terrible attitude against me, not once. I was horrible to them for those few days and they still tried to help me." Alright, so maybe she was exaggerating just a little but she felt they did deserve this much.
Her plan worked well. "Oh Lavender, you're so kind and caring," Megan told her and the others joined in with praise for both Lavender and Parvati. They were both blushing unashamedly and Hermione could tell this had definitely softened Lavender's attitude, which in all respects was a good thing considering they did have many more years together.
Within an hour their bags were packed and it was 9:00 AM, time to go. One by one, each girl used floo powder to transport themselves back home.
"Remember to say 'the Brocklehurst's' when you step into the fire," Mandy reminded her as she took a pinch of floo powder to prepare for her turn.
Hermione groaned. She definitely did not like traveling by floo powder and it was bad enough getting to Lavender's, she just hopped she'd be able to pronounce her destination correctly and not get sent to the wrong grate.
Just before she took her turn, Hermione was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. It was Amber. "Good luck at school next year. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that last term wasn't the end of your adventures."
"Well I honestly hope you are crazy if that's your prediction. Nothing could top that, and I hope nothing ever does. But thanks for everything still." Hermione tossed her floo powder into the already green fire. She stepped tentatively into the grate and shouted "The Brocklehurst's" and was gone in a flash of emerald smoke.
Amber stared at the fire for a moment longer. "No Hermione, you are far from having your last adventure. That much I'm sure of." She turned and strolled towards the rec room to help Lavender and Penny finish cleaning.