Hermione Granger and the Philosopher's Stone (Completed)

Chapter 8 - An Eventful First Week

The other students from all houses tended to avoid Hermione for the first week, but Hermione was having too much fun to notice or care. She was fascinated by every little thing that she discovered about the world and school she never knew. The first surprise she got was on the very first morning at breakfast. She was just about to begin her toast when the Hall was filled with a loud fluttering noise and hundreds of owls flew into the Hall through the many windows. This seemed to be a new experience even to the first years who had grown up in the wizarding world, as they stared at them in awe just as Hermione did. The owls, of all shapes and species, circled overhead until they saw their owner, before swooping down to them and giving them the letters and parcel that were tied to their legs. Hermione noticed that Neville had received a large parcel from his gran containing everyday objects that he seemed to have forgotten to pack. This didn't surprise Hermione at all.

And the lessons, oh the lessons! Hermione was learning things that her primary school peers could only dream of. Her favourite lesson was, as she had already guessed, Transfiguration, which was taught by Professor McGonagall. She was quite strict, and there would be no nonsense in her class, as she was quick to tell them in her first lesson.
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts" she had said "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned"
She then impressed everyone by transforming her desk into a pig and back again. After that, everyone seemed really excited to learn for once, until they found out that most of the lesson would be taken up by complex note taking, something that no one but Hermione seemed to find remotely interesting. At the end of the lesson Professor McGonagall gave them all a toothpick each to turn into a needle. Hermione got really worried that her toothpick hadn't fully transformed, before looking round and realising that nobody else had done anything to their toothpicks. Professor McGonagall showed her now shiny, spiky toothpick to the class, giving Hermione one of her rare smiles.

One of the things that Hermione noticed rather quickly was that everyone else seemed just as interested in Harry Potter as she had been when she first met him. Wherever he went, wizards and whispers followed. Conversations stopped and heads turned. Harry didn't seem to find the attention enjoyable at all. He was constantly pushing his fringe over his scar, and always kept his head down. This didn't really help. Even the teachers seemed fascinated by him. Professor Flitwick, the tiny charms teacher who had to stand on books to be seen over his desk, started the class by taking the register and when he got to Harry's name, he fell off the books and out of sight. Hermione didn't really understand. Harry Potter was just a normal boy, who extraordinary things had happened to. And yet, Hermione thought as she walked down the stone steps to her first ever potion lesson in the dungeons, everyone seemed to like or, at the very least, respect him. She presumed that their potions teacher, Professor Snape, would be exactly the same.

How wrong she was.

Professor Snape had black, greasy hair and a long hooked nose. His face was almost white and his eyes were black and soulless. He looked, to Hermione, like an overgrown bat in his long black robes.

As Professor Flitwick before him had, Professor Snape started the lesson with the register and he too paused at Harry's name.
"Ah, yes" he said "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity"
Draco Malfoy and his two friends, whose names were Crabbe and Goyle, stifled laughs through their hands. Professor Snape ignored them. He finished the register and turned to face the class. Like Professor McGonagall, he started with a small speech.
"You are here" he said "to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach"
Hermione was sitting on the edge of her seat. She wanted to prove to Professor Snape that she wasn't a dunderhead. Professor Snape suddenly turned to Harry Potter
"Potter!" he said, making everyone jump "What would I get of I added powered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Hermione quickly raised her hand. She knew this!
"I don't know, sir" said Harry. Snape sneered at him.
"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything"
Professor Snape completely ignored Hermione.
"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"
Hermione knew this one as well! She raised her hand higher into the air. Again, Harry didn't know the answer.
"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"
As much as Hermione didn't like Professor Snape for ignoring her, she had to admit he had a point. Information about bezour's were clearly on page 23 in One Thousand Magical Herbs And Fungi!
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Hermione was getting really annoyed. Why did Professor Snape keep asking Harry Potter all the difficult questions? In the hope of finally getting noticed, Hermione actually stood up, something she had never done in a lesson before.
"I don't know" said Harry "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"
Several people laughed. Hermione felt her cheeks go red.
"Sit down" Professor Snape snapped at her, and she did blushing furiously. Snape then told the class the answers, almost word for word of what Hermione would've said.
"Well?" he said after he had finished "Why aren't you all copying that down?"
Nearly everyone reached for quills and ink. Hermione, who already knew all this, chose not to copy it down, before catching Professor Snape's eye and deciding that copying it down would be a very good idea. She finished the pointless task in seconds, just in time to hear Professor Snape say "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek, Potter"

Professor Snape put them all in pairs and told them to brew a simple potion to cure boils. Professor Snape paired Hermione up with one of Neville's friends, the one with the dark skin, whose name she found out was Dean Thomas. He seemed nice enough, but he talked too much about West Ham United for Hermione's liking.

Suddenly, the dungeon was filled with a loud hissing and dark green smoke. Hermione turned to see the gray blob that was Seamus Finnigan's cauldron. The acid green potion that had filled the blob was spilling onto the floor, burning holes in everything in its wake. Hermione immediately jumped onto the desk, and Dean did the same. According to Professor Snape, Neville, who was Seamus's partner, had put the porcupine quills into the potion before taking it off the fire. Hermione was surprised that the smallest difference could make a huge impact on the potion. Neville was now covered in large boils, and had to be taken to the hospital wing by Seamus. Full of bitter thoughts about the first night, Hermione resisted the urge to laugh as Neville passed, then immediately hated herself for it. Professor Snape then deducted another point from Gryffindor, not because Neville messed up the potion, which would have made sense, but because Harry Potter hadn't stopped him from doing so, when him and his partner, Ronald Weasley, had been worrying about their own potion. This was so unfair, that Hermione raised her hand to argue, but Professor Snape ignored it again. Hermione wondered why on earth Professor Snape hated Harry Potter so much.

On the way to dinner, Hermione glanced out of the window to see something that lost her appetite. Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley were walking to Hagrid's hut by the forest, and Hagrid was waiting for them with a large smile on his face. Hermione walked up to the common room, barely noticing where she was going and totally ignoring Nearly Headless Nick's greeting.

She walked up to her dormitory, and was thankful that Lavender and Parvati weren't there. She got into bed and stuffed her head in her pillow. She had never felt more alone. Hagrid had shown her the wizarding world as well as Harry Potter, but had she got an invitation to his house for tea? No, and she never would. Of all the people she had met in this world, Hagrid had been her absolute favourite, and now even he had left her.

A huge thanks to _hinnyromione_ for posting the first comment on this book ever! She is amazing and her books are totally wonderful!