Life and Times
Rating: R
Ship: HHr (main emphasis)
The (unlovely) procedure: all rights go to JKR for previous plot and characters, Scholastic, Warner, and whoever else has their hands in HP.
Author Note: Gone are the days of Hogwarts… University has begun for Hermione.
***
Chapter Forty-Six - Rite
***
The Quibbler
"Dark Ones" Captured
An overseas faction thought to be North America's version of Death Eaters, the so-named "Dark Ones" were tracked down one-by-one in the northern parts of Canada yesterday. The Dark Elves, with the help of Washington D.C., raided several hideouts and homes where they found Death Eater paraphernalia and means of attacking targets there and abroad. A fight broke out at what was considered headquarters, but no casualties were said to have occurred. A "hundred or more" were taken into United States custody. A spokesperson for the Dark Elves has said that they've "destroyed many networks spanning the continent" showing a "variety of ways to get to targets under government and military radar". Much like here in Britain, North American travelers must be licensed to apparate, for example, therefore leading to believe there may have been unregistered Floo-type apparatuses or the like. When asked what specifically was found, the spokesperson only said, "No comment". However, the spokesperson did show us a few pieces of paraphernalia: a poster of Voldemort, hand-drawn, and articles cut from newspapers with one such article being cut from an older issue of The Prophet.
Canadian officials as well as Washington praised their Dark Elf comrades for a job well done. Washington has said that they are "welcoming their brothers and sisters to dinner," a congratulatory gala after the investigation and meetings. The Dark Elves have yet to accept Washington's invitation, probably due in part of their naturally covert lifestyle. The Quibbler will echo the Canadian officials and Washington in applauding the Dark Elves' performance and assistance to the cause.
Rebecca Greene
Writer
P.1
***
There was something about this day that I knew I'd never forget for the rest of my life. It's that feeling, you know, the feeling you get when you're on the ledge of a cliff looking down. For some reason your mind tells you to, "Jump". For a moment, you actually think about jumping. How absurd! I was at that cliff, looking down at what could lie ahead in my future. I felt revitalized, and anxious, exhilarated, but at the same time that terrified little girl who first entered the Great Hall at Hogwarts to be Sorted in front of the entire student body.
I plunged, arms spread, eyes wide open, into the first step of the rest of my life.
I woke up.
I hadn't really slept, going into the wee hours of the morning checking and re-checking if I had organised everything that I bought weeks before. If I had enough pens and pencils, textbooks, required literature, some loose leaf tablets, a modern calculator with functions I didn't recognise the least, the clothes I wanted to wear, the accessories, my hair, my… This was a very big deal to me. So much of a big deal that, when I did wake up from the few hours of sleep, I realised I slept with the Oxford Course Catalog and my weekly schedule. All the dates and times highlighted, details underlined, notes scribbled in the margins, tabs of varying colour labeling English, Science, Mathematics, and of course, the specific core Music lectures.
Today was Harry's first day back at Hogwarts; though, I'd been the crazy one who chose my very first class of the semester at 7 AM. Harry didn't need to go into Hogwarts until almost 10, so when I lifted to sit in bed after clicking the alarm off, the time reading five o'clock, he continued to snore.
He had his arm around me, or did, for when I sat up he removed it. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes I yawned, glanced around to room, adjusted the sheets fallen at my hips and stretched upwards. I found irony in the fact that I wore his shirt to bed, and Harry was shirtless. I fell back to him, Harry lying on his stomach, and kissed his upper back, the sheets having been pulled down to the beginnings of his boxer shorts by my waking actions.
I tried to be super-quiet, but by the time my rear hit the edge of the bed he was wide awake…well, five o'clock-awake.
He yawned, asking within his yawn, lying now on his side to face me, "…Want me to fix you breakfast before you head out?"
I twisted to see him, the Catalog and course papers in my lap, "I'll just grab a bran muffin and some juice."
"Too excited to eat?"
I nearly skipped over to the closet where today's apparel hung separately from our rest. "I can hardly stand it!"
"Toss me your schedule again," he laughed as I began humming, clothes hangers in my hands.
I traipsed to the bed, handed my schedule over to my now-seated Harry reaching for his glasses, all the while undoing his shirt to shrug off.
"'Unseen Translations of the Classics,'" Harry read aloud.
Bare from the waist north, I had my bra on backwards to fasten, and then rotated the support to slide my arms through the bands. "Uh huh," I responded, turning around to see Harry watching me. I smiled.
"Only my Hermione would ever think of taking a boring lecture at 7 AM on a bloody Monday," he winked.
I threw my knickers at him and laughed, exchanging those for a new pair. I looked back to see them on Harry's head. I laughed again at his silliness. "Well, I think it's going to be engrossing! Loads better than being stuck here…"
Harry gasped. "At least I'll have the bed all to myself for those few hours Monday thru Friday."
I stuck out my tongue, turning my head around to do so whilst rolling on deodorant. "I'll remember that."
Harry chuckled and pried himself from the confines of our bed, albeit sluggishly. He covered his mouth, hiding a rather large yawn, and scratched his abdomen. "Three hours of maddening literature followed by…"
He stood beside me, leaning against the wall. "Followed by a rousing lecture on `Interpretation of Music'. All of this before lunch… Sounds like suicide if you asked me."
I glared at him with a smirk, having slid my arms into the sleeves of a black-and-powder blue striped jumper, tailored brilliantly to my slim physique. Connected to the back of the neck sewn a hood. "No one's asked you," I glanced down for a second, to see to a black button that wouldn't quite go into its hole, and looked back up at a smug fiance.
"Will you leave me be!" I threw his shirt at him this time. I giggled, taking up one of my sand-blasted denim skirts. I wanted to go for casual, though practical: something that would get me through a first day without constantly pulling at an annoying starched collar.
Harry, with what I wore to bed in his hands now, removing the knickers from his head, set down my schedule on the vanity-knowing well how obsessive compulsive I'd get if it were to grow feet and wander away from my sight-and gave my bum a swat. I had my right knee up, stepping into the skirt and had to brace onto the white, wooden countertop to stop from tumbling over.
My eyes lit with a smirk, and before I could get to his arm to smack him, he said, "Just trying to get a rise out of you this morning! God!"
"I noticed!" And thusly smacked him this time.
He bit at me, strolling straight towards the clothes bin afterwards to toss my pyjamas in, and strolled right on out of the room, noting on his way out, "Breakfast of ham and eggs will be done shortly. I'll be expecting you."
His voice trailed off the further he distanced himself, hearing his steps descending the stairs.
I sighed, shrugged, and paid attention now that I was alone where my feet went into the skirt. At least now, I thought, I could… "…Get prepared without being bothered!" I yelled for him to hear me downstairs.
I heard him laugh, a pan banging around as it was taken from underneath the stove.
I smiled at myself in the mirror, zipping and buttoning the skirt together.
He could have slept through this… But, there was my Harry, and I loved him for always thinking of me.
***
The closer I came to the den, the closer I came to my rock. My entire security, my one, my only, my love-and the breakfast dish he so wanted to prepare for his fiance's brand new endeavor. It got me to thinking about things. Alone, up in our bedroom, putting my black tights on, putting my hair in clips, whilst painting those portions of my face it hit me: this was it. This was my life. Been through so much, him and I, and here we go again. More thrilled and afraid, fear of what was to come still hung in the skeleton closet. It was just… The good, the bad, everything swirling together to produce a new product-and we were guinea pigs.
Right then and there, standing now in the kitchen with Harry setting the last of the table, I didn't know to laugh or to cry.
I rode the wave and reached back for positivity, leaving behind-or trying-all the negative.
Pulling the shoulder strap of my school bag from my form, I put it aside to help…only to be brushed away.
"Sit."
"I was-"
"I've got it."
I saw the butter dish, and being as stubborn as Harry seized it from the counter and ran to my seat at the dining table.
I sat quickly and quietly, obviously seen, though played as if nothing had happened.
I heard him laugh, his laughter creeping behind me where he first kissed the top of my head, and then slid a plate of ham, eggs, and whole wheat toast in front of me. "I've left out the butter."
My eyes on the hot, steamy food before me, I let out a laugh. "Did you check the refrigerator? I could have sworn I saw it in there."
Harry, walking back from pouring apple juice, sat down beside me with his own plate of the same. "That infamous butter-thief strikes again!"
I couldn't help but laugh.
He placed one of two ice-cold glasses near my plate.
"Did you get everything?" He asked.
I ran down that grocery list permanently seared into my brain.
Harry laughed at how I recalled everything spot on, to the very detail, as if he could see the numerical assort of one to infinity. "You've forgotten the most important thing of all."
The phone rang, and Harry left to catch it.
His fork knocked against the ceramic.
"Which is what?" I called out in reply, coupling a perfectly squared ham slice with a proportionate prong-full of yellowy-white.
I heard the phone shift from the wall hook. "Your sanity-Hello?"
"Psh." I grinned. "I'll likely leave it here today. So much to think about, so much to remember… I hope it's something as simple as that, I mean, wouldn't it be just the best if I forgot the first lesson's textbook? Christ!"
"No," Harry said in the background. "No, we're up. She-yes, yeah…"
"…'Miss Granger, where is your textbook?' Completely embarrassed. I'd run out of the lesson immediately…"
"Hermione."
Harry's affirmed voice next to me shook me from my babbling.
He held out the phone to me, "It's for you, love."
"Who is it?" After the tangent, I'd lost all track of thought. Someone was on the phone?
I reached out and retrieved the telephone, my eyes on Harry as I set it to my ear.
He just smiled and sat back down to his breakfast.
"…Hello?" I cautiously said into the phone.
"'Mi, I told him if I caught you at a bad time I'd-"
Gin.
"No, it's fine, really," I said, though Gin rambled on in apologies beneath. "Really it is, hun."
"I just wanted to call and wish you luck on your first day," She breathed. "Are you scared?"
"No…," Then I felt something bubble in the pit of my stomach. "…But now I am, sort of, maybe."
"No, no! What I mean was, er-I'd be frightened out of my knickers! You're `Mi Granger. This is like…you."
I laughed. "Me, eh? Books and cleverness…"
"And too smart for your own damn good, yes!"
I smirked and bit into a forkful of egg.
"I want you to blow them out of the water."
"I'll try my very best."
"And I think you're stark raving mad starting a term out at this hour of the morning."
"Isn't that part of my charm? Me?"
Gin laughed. "I guess so. How are you feeling-as in-"
She stumbled.
"As in, are you well or sick or…"
"Well, Harry's fixed breakfast…so, full, excited, anxious, in some ways I want to throw up…"
"New rule: Hermione can't get sick."
"If only-I'm overwhelmed, yet in the best mood. I think."
"You show `em, girl. You're going to do great. I wish I were there beside you."
"You can come with me. Want to come with me?"
Gin muffled a snicker. "Right, yeah. Let me go find that thousand galleon Gringott account I have again… Now where did I put that damned thing? Let me go ask that tree outside I talk from time-to-time where I last had it."
I smiled.
"How's the job search going?"
"…Since Neville."
"Mm…," I nodded, nodding to Harry when he got up to take my plate away. "That is quite a conundrum."
"And I'd ask father, but mum has it in for me. We certainly haven't gotten along after…"
"Right, well, I mean," I started up, my calves pushing the seat of the chair backward. "You can always ask Harry. He has connections with the Ministry. I'm sure he'll help in any way possible. We're like family."
I turned to look at Harry at that moment, but saw him within one of the cabinets with his back turned.
"Or I'll just look into shops. Maybe Diagon. One of those may be hiring."
"Well, I'll be thinking about you."
"And you'll definitely be on my mind today, `Mi. Silently cheering you on, on the sidelines. Just be yourself, love."
"Sometimes acting like myself gets trouble," I'd taken and swung my school bag over a shoulder.
"No, if I acted like myself then there would be trouble. You're a Saint. Saint Granger."
I laughed, and loudly, Harry flipping around from the sink to see me and my expression, my hands adjusting the strap of the bag.
"I love you, `Mi. And, I'll be thinking about you."
"Love you too, Gin."
"Hell, it's six-of course you'll be on my mind. No other bloody reason to get up this early for anything else."
I grinned. "Good luck with the search and get hold of Harry if things don't turn right."
"All right," I could see her smile. "Show them who is boss!"
***
"Harry!!"
The more I waited at the fireplace, the more I became antsy.
I could hear myself swallow.
Harry came flying downstairs, his tie dangling around his neck, his fingers creating the hole for the bunny to hop through; though, his focus went right to mine.
The tie unraveled and he had to start again.
"What's wrong?"
I pouted.
He took me in within snapshots, making sure everything physical was fine, though inside…
"You're going to be fine," he added to my thoughts.
Connected, he knew me.
"…I don't want to come off presumptuous, but… You see…"
He put each of his hands on my arms, his tie knotted, and said with attention, "Look at me."
Shying away at first for butterflies, my eye level rose to see him.
"Hands down you are the smartest, and most beautiful-" He stopped to embraced me tight. "And I love you. I swear it will be night and day. You'll laugh at all those little nerves swelling right now later on tonight. I promise."
"Come with me," I declared at his shoulder, tightening the hug, my arms about his neck.
"If you want me to."
I grinned and hid my face in the crook of his neck, between the pocket of my arm and his shirt collar.
We stayed still for that moment, Harry's fingers, each digit finding my spine through the jumper, each tiny notch. The valleys drove a calming, soothing sensation; the peaks excited. I smelled of him one last time before breaking away, but not before he kissed my lips.
"You've got this in the bag," he noted firmly.
"I've got this," I repeated, smiling when he did.
I gave him a hug, brief, knowing if I lingered I'd want to linger even more. I pushed myself to stray, to walk on into the waiting hearth. My back turned to him, when I did turn around he had walked my pace behind me. He took the Floo powder from the canister, dabbed a bit of the ashy grain in the palm of his hand and held his hand out to me. I cupped both hands and took the powder, watching the sand fall, and then watching him put the canister back atop the fireplace.
He put his arm, his hand on the side of the brick and leaned into it, grinning as he said softly, "You'll be great."
I smiled, though my knees wobbled.
"I love you."
"I love you," I answered without hesitation, ending with, "…And you take extra care out there! Do you hear me?"
He nodded and chuckled lightly, "I'll certainly do my best."
"Do better than that. I don't want to come home to see another injury."
"Keep your phone on," Harry interjected. "I'll catch you during your lunch break, and you can let off those jitters and tell me all about the morning. Okay?"
"Okay," I nodded. "Say hello to Hagrid for me."
"Good luck, my love. If you need me before-"
He could see my emotions becoming real.
I wanted to start crying all over again.
He leaned into the fireplace and kissed me, leaning back out so I could drop the powder.
"Wellington Square!"
The shocking apple-green flames instantly engulfed me.
Before the Floo could take me, I heard Harry one last time within our small distance:
"I love you."
"I love you!" I called in response, but was unfortunately taken before I could see his gorgeous smile, being swallowed whole and yanked towards the described destination: Oxford University.
***
The Quibbler
No More Kisses
Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt's long-time agenda to contain Dementors came to head this morning when the very last Dementor was banished from Azkaban Prison. Minister Shacklebolt put strong sanctions on Dementor-use, declaring them an "arm of Voldemort" and thusly treated as the evilest of all evils. Criminals instead have been subjected to trials and given their sentences humanely as opposed to previous administration use of the dreaded Dementor's Kiss. With Dementors gone, the lurking fog surrounding the prison lifted revealing parts of the island never before seen by even the guards who have worked at Azkaban for years. One guard of twenty-eight years said, "If it weren't for all the jagged rocks below and the, you know, prison, this would be a nice spot for fishing."
In a conference, Press Secretary for Minister Shacklebolt, Timothy Toulsen was stated saying, "The excommunication of the last Dementor will be an event depicted in history archives as being the next of many steps glorifying the found freedom of our Motherland. Minister Shacklebolt will be honoured immensely on his courageous acts for years to come."
Meygan Brookes
Writer
P.1
***
I double, triple, quadruple-checked that my phone was on and silent.
On the grounds, I stopped amongst the busy, bustling swarm of our future generation and gazed at the grand buildings I would consider a home for a while. I gathered my shoulders up, drawing in a deep breath, and let it all out at the monstrous, towering structure-no, scripture of the world, one of the finest institutions. And here I was, feeling…lots of things jumbled and going in the wrong ways. I was hungry. I was thirsty. I needed to use the loo. I was… I took another deep breath and followed the flow of student body into the doors and into the halls where I was met by…familiarity…
Though I hadn't seen anything of this number in comparison to the students at Hogwarts.
Though I hadn't seen anything of this generous stature, this hauntingly surreal atmosphere.
I smelled…the familiar scent of old, dusty books and freshly mowed grass.
Hogwarts.
I smiled, standing there, just taking it all in…to be jostled from behind when someone hit me.
"Sorry!" cried out an older man in suspenders, literature in hands, running somewhere in a hurry.
I guessed I shouldn't stop traffic anymore than I had, the flow moving around me like a log in a river. A hand in my shoulder bag, I shuffled around until I felt the paper, my schedule, the room numbers, and headed for my first class of university.
***
I didn't get lost to the first lesson.
That put me one up for today already!
I found the room, and… Christ, did I find the room. Enormous, each seat was tiered going from the ground floor and spreading at a forty-five degree angle upwards. Three aisles, two on the sides and one directly down the centre. The door stood in the centre, and I stood wide-eyed at how many people were seated. I swore I lost count at a hundred. Learning from earlier, I side-stepped out of the way, letting others in as I scouted for a seat not too far back, but not too close. Maybe deeper into the lesson would I move forward, but I found myself wanting to keep just enough distance.
The first few rows were filled, anyway.
Tucking hair over my ear in my habitual, nervous reflex, I started towards the left aisle and made my way down the slope to a middle section. Having to express a few, "Excuse me's" and "Sorry's" along the route, scuttling slowly to the seat I saw, I finally made it and sat down. I noticed others around me, as I took out the text, my notepad, and a pencil from my bag, that there was a small desk attached to each chair. Sure enough, fastened to the right armrest was a desk that could swing out for every individual.
I tried to get comfortable, biting my bottom lip subconsciously until I realised what I was doing when a guy sat down in the empty seat on my right. He smiled at me, and I did too, swishing my head back forward to see the professor walk down the centre aisle to a large podium on the floor. My eyes followed him, a younger version of a male in retrospect to any teacher I've ever had…prolonging my anxiety and trumping what consolation I'd gotten from the familiar smells.
The professor put his briefcase on the podium and I saw him open it up, pulling out a stack of paper. He looked around the room, at those coming in, those seated, all the while tucking in his dress shirt. He glanced at his watch, moved back over to the podium and picked up what he brought. He quickly went to the first row at the bottom and handed the printed stack to the first person, a young woman like me, and pointed on towards the next woman beside her.
"Hi."
The person to my right startled me.
I nearly jumped out of my seat, turning robotically to him.
He had his hand out towards me. "I'm Nathaniel Blake, and you are?"
"Oh, uhm," I had to re-wrap my mind back to some normality. I closed my eyes just enough to collect my thoughts and opened them to shake his hand. "Hermione. Hermione Granger."
Dark hair, dark eyes and muscular.
His arms were three times the size of mine. It was one of those starkly traits, especially as he wore a black short-sleeved t-shirt and jeans. A messy crow's nest of shiny ebony and big brown eyes beneath glasses, for someone could be considered threatening, he sure came off as a puppy dog. His smile was genuine, and confident, and I could have sworn he could be Harry's long lost sibling…or at least a distance cousin or relative, albeit one that exercises daily.
"Hermione. That's quite an interesting name. New, and very pretty."
I smiled, if not for someone trying to console my rocky nerves. "My mum and dad have quite the fascination of Shakespeare."
"Then you're in the right lesson," exclaimed Nathaniel, sitting back in his seat. "Prewitt, he's fond of early literature. He'll really have you thinking. He's good."
"You've had him?" I had my legs crossed, my foot wriggling. My left elbow flat on the single desk, I curiously looked at my fellow friendly peer.
"Twice, actually. This is my second term."
I pointed at myself. "First here."
"First class?"
"Can you tell?"
"Well, your foot hasn't quit moving since I sat down. I thought you may have been flirting until I saw that ring on your finger," he motioned to the engagement ring secure to my left ring finger. "Then it all added up."
I laughed a little. "You're certainly a character."
"I try," he smiled warmly. "Though he's fine. Listen, take notes, study and the exams and essays will fly by fast."
"You make it sound so easy."
"It is," Nathaniel replied. "University is fun, I'm serious. I suggest joining in on extra-curricular activities, too. Clubs and groups…I'm in a thrilling Lit group."
"Really?"
"You sound shocked."
"No, I didn't-" I put my face in my palm and grinned embarrassed. "I didn't mean it to sound that way. I meant… I don't really know what I meant. I didn't say anything."
I glanced at him.
"You thought I was all brawn and no brain."
"No!"
He laughed.
"I get that a lot," He pointed to himself. "Literature major. I'm that kid who reads in the corner."
I laughed. "I'm glad to know me and the three other people in the world have another to add to our growing ranks. Maybe by next month we'll find the fifth!"
"Good morning everyone!" Class was starting, the professor stood right smack in the middle and grinned on at each and every tired face. "Welcome to this new term! I will be your professor, Stanley Prewitt. I am also someone you should get to know early for I teach tons of classes involving literature past and present-and future, if you can understand that much at 7 o'clock!"
I wrote down the date in the upper right corner of my loose-leaf and prepared for note-taking.
"I've just begun giving out this term's itinerary, a script detailing the various tomes and translations you all will be reading. Yes, for anyone who hasn't had me, or if this is your first class, be forewarned that this lesson is severely book-heavy which means your nose will ultimately be stuck in-between a novel ad naseum. There will be three essays, one in the beginning, the middle, and at the end of the term. There will also be six exams after roughly two or three texts with one final cumulative exam at the end of the term. If this is too much for you, feel free to go to Administration and choose another one of our varied Lit lessons."
Stanley Prewitt… Three essays… Six exams… Cumulative final…
I scribbled all this down frenziedly, even though the syllabus would surely be a repetition of what he said.
"Various ways you all can contact me or my assistant is typed at the top of the itinerary for you. Office phone and hours, cellular phone-please do not call me at midnight saying you've forgotten something the day before or I will not be happy-e-mail address."
The girl to my left handed me the stack of printed paper and I took one, passing it to Nathaniel and onward. I took a minute to see the hours, the phone numbers, an "e-mail address" I wasn't too familiar with and the dozen selected literature material we would be reading and discussing in our lesson. With perked ears, I heard the first novel of which lay in front of me…
"To begin," Professor Prewitt stuck his hands in his pockets and paced the floor. "We will be studying Iliad. Has anyone read the epic poem yet?"
Several hands rose in the air, including mine and Nathaniel's.
The Professor studied the room. "Good, now can someone tell me a little about the author himself? Something beyond the preface or articles inside the binding?"
I suddenly had the urge to raise my hand.
I'd read the entire list, everything from the Iliad, the Odyssey, to Virgil's Aeneid, Hesiod's Theogany and Sophocles's Oedipus rex and Antigone. I knew it, and yet…halted. I looked around the room and no one, not a single soul even inched in their seats. I looked back at Professor Prewitt who seemed disappointed and began to move on when that defense mechanism burst.
Up shot my hand.
"All right, so, Hom-Oh! Yes!" He pointed at me. "You! And you are? I like to correlate faces to a name."
"H-Hermione Granger, sir." I put my hand down and noticed those around me, all around me, looking at me.
I gulped and wished I hadn't raised that hand.
My voice seemed small amongst the huge auditorium.
"Well, good morning, Miss Granger! What can you say about our author, Homer?"
I went to speak to find a catch in my throat. I stopped, closed my eyes found that courageous ingenuity, and began again, "Homer lived during the 8th century BC and the Iliad, being one of his most famous or works, is described as being the most studied piece of Greek literature. Finding the days of the Trojan War exceptionally fascinating, he wrote of themes on a monumental scale which embodied hexameter verse. Because the poems have been passed down by each generation orally, the majority of Homer's tales have come under scrutiny with no one really knowing if Homer was an author or authors of the works. This has been termed the `Homeric Question' with no conclusion in sight for ancient literature historians."
The room was silent a beat, and I just knew people could hear that hard swallow I took to wet a parching throat…which didn't help.
"Brilliant!" Professor Prewitt's face lit with a smile so wide it over-indulged happiness. "Absolutely brilliant! Thank you, Miss Granger! That was wonderfully executed!!"
My solemn expression immediately flipped.
I smiled, and smiled big.
I could see from my peripherals others utterly spellbound.
With Professor Prewitt going on with the conversation, I heard Nathaniel whisper in my ear, "…Join the Lit club."
I flicked my head to the right, seeing him smiling to mine.
"We'd love to have you as a member."
"I'll definitely check it out," I whispered as quietly.
"Now," exclaimed Professor Prewitt from below. "Who can give me something they've learned about Homer's Iliad?"
I grinned at the question.
I found it.
I found me.
And it felt…amazing.
My hand shot straight up in the air.
"Ha! Miss Granger! Once again!"
***
10:27 AM GMT, Interpretation of Music
Another gigantic audience of hundreds and none seemed to take advantage. I didn't quite understand, but what happened in my first morning lesson continued on into this one. When a very bubbly teacher adorned in a flowery dress and bushy hair, Professor Turner, asked the audience to engage in a history of classical music, my arm rose without any thought.
The fourth time.
"Again! Miss Granger! What say you?"
I grinned when the Professor became animated by my enthusiasm.
"Jean-Jacques Nattiez stated a viewpoint in which the border of music and noise is culturally defined, implying that in different societies these borders rarely pass through the same place. Thusly, there is no general consensus in defining what can be considered music to noise or noise to music might be."
"Excellent, Miss Granger! Very, very astute!" She turned to the rest of the class. "In consideration of Miss Granger's quotation of Nattiez, what happens when a culture…"
With acceptance easily coming from the faculty of the university, it truly started to feel like home…and like the days of Hogwarts.
Including some looks I received from members of the lesson.
That didn't stop me from raising my hand several more times in the last hour, and then staying after to discuss with Professor Turner on Nattiez and how Western cultures differentiate greatly to other cultures. It was thrilling, having a few laughs at that intellectual level I craved, and getting to know those elders who could teach me more. She told me she hadn't come across someone "like me" in a while, and she was happy I chose her lesson over any other.
Leaving class and going into my free period, saying I felt like skipping was an understatement.
***
Sitting outside underneath one of the many planted trees surrounding the Oxford Commons, I'd people-watch amongst reading, again, the Iliad. The weather was overcast, nothing unusual for Britain. People meandered through groups handing out paraphernalia, slips of paper announcing on-campus studies, clubs, and events. Coming from the main building out into the Commons, I was offered six pamphlets ranging from a Student University Association meeting to the Young Labour Party to a concert being held tonight by local bands at a pub across the street.
I became intrigued by a board some peers congregated around after a while, checking my mobile phone in intervals to see if Harry contacted me, though knew that his lunch period wasn't for another twenty minutes. I also understood that it was also his first day back at Hogwarts, and after the Headmistress's death it wouldn't be a smooth entrance into a new year. I stood up and brushed myself off, having sat in grass, and re-arranged my bag to set the Iliad and other epic poetry in. I crossed the Commons again, dodging the more assertive groups, and went straight to this massive board of coloured paper.
Standing aside some people, I gazed at all the student-sponsored clubs, some being the likes of academia, others nostalgic to S.P.E.W. for animal rights. Businesses around the area also placed paperwork needing young blood, asking for people to apply or call a certain number for employment. Sports pubs and family restaurants, I sort of laughed at a sheet for McDonald's employment. I reached to take a tab for a Youth Music Club, one tab for contacting an animal rights association, Law, English, debate team…
"Hey!"
I looked to my left and saw Nathaniel, his school bag swinging behind him, wave at me.
"Hey!" I waved back at him, his form nearing me.
He stepped up beside me and looked on at the board. "Overwhelming, eh?"
I showed him all the tabs I'd taken.
He laughed, and noted, pointing out, "You didn't take one for the Literature Club."
"I didn't see it."
He reached around me and took a tab from a green sheet of paper, the sheet of paper type-printed: "JOIN THE DISCUSSION TODAY!"
"There we are," he handed the ripped tab to me, counting now seven slips in my fingers.
"I think that'll keep me busy for months," I jested.
"I think so," He agreed, smiling. "I've already spoken to a few members in the club about you, so it's now mandatory to join."
"Oh really?"
"Really."
I chuckled. "Well, we'll see."
"If you don't I'll be heartbroken."
"Aw, we wouldn't want that now, would we?"
"Not at all."
We both laughed.
"I'll check it out."
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Awesome!" I could see the glitter in his eyes. "So, are you busy right now or-"
My mobile started ringing.
"Oh."
"Hold that thought," I held a finger to him, and dug around in my pocket to produce the aforementioned cell. I smiled at him when he nodded and let me have privacy, directing his attention to the Students' Board.
"Hello?"
"Hey there, love. How's your day been so far?"
"Brilliant! I absolutely love it. It's so amazing, Harry… So amazing… First lesson went great, the discussion about Ancient Greek literature was so stimulating and the professor is so laid back, and so-well, my other professor, Professor Turner is laid back, too. She's like from the 60's, she's funny and smart and she taught me something about classical music I hadn't even known before, it's just-Ah! I'm not making sense, gushing on like a buffoon!"
Harry laughed. "All of this in a matter of a few hours, eh?"
"Yeah, it's-well-so bloody amazing!"
"Well, if you're having a good time, I wouldn't want to spoil it by interrupting. But, if you still want to get together I'm free. Tired, but free for lunch."
"Aw…," I sighed in smiles. "Of course I want to see you. I want to hear about your first lessons, too, especially with all that's had to change."
"It's changed, but not to the point where it's completely a different atmosphere. It's definitely a sight to see Headmaster Flitwick at the owl podium in the Great Hall," I heard him sneeze, to which I said "Bless you". He began again, stating, "Meet me at home and we'll go from there, okay? How long do you have again?"
"Little less than three hours now."
"Lovely. See you at home. I love you."
"I love you, too."
I hung up and slipped the phone back into my pocket, looking to see Nathaniel gazing down at me.
"Gotta go?"
"Yeah, that was Harry, my fiance. We're going to go to lunch."
"Cool, cool-I was going to suggest, by the way, for you to join the ladies Rugby team, but I decided not to."
I laughed so hard. "Not quite, not quite…"
"I'm a recruiting officer for the Rugby team here, so…yeah…"
"Makes sense," I winked at him. "But my love is waiting for me. I'll catch you later?"
"Yeah, sure. And if we don't see each other later on, we'll see each other tomorrow in lesson!"
"Yep," I nodded. "Absolutely."
I started to backtrack towards a less populated area of the Commons. "Take care, Nathaniel."
"You too!"
Traveling behind a building, a made sure that no one saw me or was seen. I went off the sidewalk and in-between a bush and a tree, in the shadow of the building and apparated to Number Twelve.
"Hermione! I forgot to…," Nathaniel, running to catch up with me turned the corner and stopped to see…nothing. He scratched the back of his head and looked around. "…Hermione? Hermione?"
He went silent a beat, and then added, "Wow… Maybe I should have asked her to join Track and Field instead?"
***
THE EVENING PROPHET
MINISTRY ATTACKED
While the Minister is away the children will play. Around 7 o'clock this evening, reports came into us revealing that a group of Death Eaters tried to break into the Department of Mysteries. Said to be defunct by Minister Shacklebolt's administration, officials within the Ministry afterhours said, "We heard loud explosions and saw fire down on Level Nine from the lift. Smoke could be smelt as far up as Level Three". Other statements have come out of the Ministry saying a "bevy of Aurors" caught the group of Death Eaters inside the "so-called obsolete" Entrance Room "apparently disoriented and confused". No other details, including how many Death Eaters were detained when found in the "non-existent" Department of Mysteries. No word on what they were after either. Some suggest that this is where they have He Who Must Not Be Name's personal effects, one being the broken pieces of the Elder Wand. But, of course, none of these exist according to Minister Shacklebolt and friends.
Groups like the Citizens of Magical Liberty have already filed for an investigation against the Ministry, though we're sure the administration will provide a few Obliviators to hush the rising masses. Minister Shacklebolt himself has been stated as saying the Department of Mysteries had the most "powerful and frightening magics" he'd ever seen and thereby told International persons and the British people he'd "see to its proper demise" which leads to the question we've always asked here at The Prophet:
How many more lies does it take?
Minister Shacklebolt is reported to have left the States and is en route back to London. I'm sure the incompetence will allow in more Death Eaters between now and then.
Angelica Teivel
Writer
Page 1
***
"Would you hate me if I wanted to get another job?"
I'd just gotten off the phone with Gin, telling her about my day which she was curious about, to re-enter our stay-in movie date. Harry lay where I left him, the spot open on his lap with the Gryffindor quilt pulled away just as I had done to get the phone. I came around the sofa, our movie, Like Water for Chocolate, on pause. With all of Gin's discussion of jobs, and me without one-and wanting to be a provider of our relationship-I thought I could take on at least something part time. University would be my top priority, of course.
I sat back down on Harry's lap, his legs sprawled out the length of the sofa. I took up the quilt and threw it back over us, taking up our bowl of popcorn and put a bit of the salty essence in my mouth while looking at Harry in the dimmed environment. He merely shrugged and reached in with me for more popcorn, tossing a few kernels in his mouth.
"If you can manage, and I'm sure you could. The moment you can't I'd like for you to stop, you know."
"If only I had my time-turner…"
"Not," He watched me as I lay back with him, our faces next to each other's. "I saw how draining that had you. I don't think…"
"I'm kidding," I gave him a kiss, feeling his hand inch around my torso unheeded by nothing more than a pyjama shirt. "Something fun, something where I wouldn't really have to think. I already think enough."
"And you're exhausted from today."
"Not exhausted," I addressed, changing the phrase. "Assimilating to a new climate. I'm loving university and the people I've met today."
"I'm glad they've taken to you so quickly. Makes me worry less."
I grinned and kissed him again.
"So, what were you thinking?"
"Well, there's this Students' Board in their community area, right? Businesses post for employment and I was thinking about applying for something right off campus. Maybe a waiting position?"
"I'd have thought you'd want to apply to their libraries."
"Don't get me started!" I sighed. "Their library is… It's easily fifty times larger than Hogwarts's. It's a little bit of Heaven."
Harry, my head in the arch of his arm like a pillow, began scratching it as I gazed on at him. I closed my eyes at the tingly sensation, and then re-opened them with a smile.
"You know I'll go with whatever road you take. I just don't want you to take on too much when it's covered."
"I want to help."
"You know you don't have to."
"I know, but I want to."
He smiled. "So, classes after lunch were enjoyable as much as the first portion of today?"
"Mathematics was absolutely grueling! All these equations to mermorise, and they kept coming and coming-never ending! He put the notes up on this screen for everyone to write down and it was page after page of definition this and X divided by N minus 2 carry… Take into consideration that I'm looking at this calculator, trying to tell it what to bloody do while everyone is just going at it!"
Harry smirked. "A riled-Hermione is adorable."
"It did get me on my heels because he wouldn't slow down! One page he'd keep up on the screen for like 5 seconds! I mean, who does that? Really…," I huffed. "At least my Art History class was better. We're starting with Stone Age cavemen drawings in discussion."
"You've got a whole new day tomorrow to look forward to, haven't you?"
"History and social sciences…"
Harry chuckled at another sigh.
"Love or hate scenarios."
"You're telling me…," I laughed. "But, I love it. Really. It'll be quite different from Muggle Studies."
"Want me to turn the movie back on?"
"Yeah," I started moving around when Harry did, getting comfortable with him surrounding me, his arms embracing me. "Got to get up at 6 this time. Lesson doesn't start until 8."
"You're crazy," He kissed me.
"You've learned this just now?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Snickering in a smirk, I twisted my head to meet his lips before snuggling back into his arm, my pillow, and seeing the telly come to life.
{Additional note: I'd like to know if I went too far from UK universities. If I didn't, cool. I know all about US colleges and how they function as I graduated less than a year ago from one. I did some research, more phrases than anything else, and got some info from a person who lives in the UK. But if there's something so very off, I'd like to know. From what I know and hear from others, the UK isn't all that different than the US}
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