The-Boy-Who-Lived/Neglected/Lied/Abounded/Betrayed/Fed Up/Left/Tortured /kills

Not the smartest witch

Harry was careful to not make a sound. He didn't want his head of house finding out that he had sneaked into her office at three in the morning. But he could only find the information he needed in the filing cabinet that held the files of all the students in Gryffindor. He had had suspicions about some students' real performance in class for a while and now he needed confirmation. First things first, his own file. He found it quickly and read over the comments that the teachers had written into his monthly reports. Overall it was the report of a student that the teachers thought could do a lot better if he would only apply himself properly in class, do a bit more research for his homework, and prepare properly for classes. The exception was of course Snape, who wrote a scathing report, showing him in the worst light. The one negative comment from other teachers was that he should practice writing with a quill more, as he tended to leave drops of ink on the parchment sometimes.

The next report he looked for was that of Ron. There were lots of reports about sub-par homework being handed in, slacking in class, disrespect towards teachers and other students and comments how they feared that he would fail the end-of-year exams. Some complained about his lack of understanding grammar and spelling issues, not to mention his atrocious handwriting. Harry was surprised about this a bit. Ron did his homework at the same time as Harry normally and while Harry didn't read the essays Ron wrote, they should be better than this at least. And didn't Hermione check his essays before he handed them in? Even if she only looked for grammar and spelling, the reports should be better.

Logically the next file he looked up was Hermione's. What he found there was not what he had expected. Hermione's grades were a lot worse than his own. Even with him not giving his all in class or homework, he was beating her in all classes except History of Magic. Where he had above average grades, she had grades that only just allowed her to pass all her classes. What the hell did she do all the time he found her reading books? She couldn't be that bad if she really read books about their subjects. And in class she normally was among those that got a spell first. He then read the reports of Professor Flitwick more closely.

Miss Granger, while always reading the chapter in her textbook for the next class, never bothers to continue practicing the spells beyond the initial level of performing the spell. Her spells are weak compared to her classmates that invest the work to truly master a spell. Her homework is never the required length and all remarks to keep to it are ignored. Not to mention that about three quarters of the essays don't have anything to do with the question asked. It shows a lack of understanding the topic of the homework.

Now this was interesting. Hermione wasn't as good at school as she wanted others to believe. Harry continued looking over some other reports, even if he didn't think that he would find any more really shocking information. Though with the surprises over Ron and Hermione anything was possible.

Harry lay in his bed, thinking about the way Hermione had shown him and Ron the entry about Nicholas Flamel being the only known creator of the Philosopher's Stone after Neville had given Harry the chocolate frog card of Dumbledore. He didn't really believe that she had coincidentally had that kind of book in her room. Not when he knew that her story about being the best of their year was false. Something was fishy and he didn't like it. Why would Hermione want that he found out about the guarded package holding a Philosopher's Stone? And come to think of it, why did she have that book? It didn't fit. It was as if somebody was using her to lead him on a certain path, and he hated something like that.

Ever since he had read the files, he had started handing in better homework essays without Hermione noticing. To not let her know how much better he was doing, he only let her see his first drafts for homework. He also read the next chapter of his books for the following day in the evening when he had closed the curtains around his bed. He didn't want to have to discuss with Ron why he was doing it. In class he didn't do much better than before, but he showed that he understood the material if he was asked and performed his spells properly and practiced until he really had them down. Nothing really outstanding, but it would give him a better grade in the end. He would have done that before, but Ron was too lazy and got cranky if he saw Harry studying more than absolutely necessary. Something Harry didn't get, but which also didn't sit right with him.