New Beginnings • A Harmione Fanfiction

Chapter Ten

"Right then. I'm glad we have that sorted. I'm just gonna.. Go over there now. To check up on Hermione." She smiled faintly.

"A-alright. I best be going." He waved.

Harry walked through the corridors feeling lighter than he did before. It seems as though Ginny's kind words had a positive effect— maybe he wasn't ruining all his relationships after all. Maybe he could still mend things with her. Maybe all hope wasn't going to be lost just yet. He came back with a new sense of purpose, and that purpose was fixing everything he had broken. The first step was already done. Ginny no longer hated him. The next? Getting his academics on track. He hasn't really given much thought to it before today, but he was practically failing all of his classes. All his previous professors had described him as a "bright and quick learner", but so far, none of his recent ones saw him that way. All they knew was a student who'd once saved the entire wizarding world, that is unfortunately now trapped in the prison of his own thoughts.

He spent quite a while brainstorming for ideas he could improve them, but nothing really sparked his interest so to speak, asides from following the "slow and steady improvement" route. But he wanted more. He wanted to fix this as quickly as possible.

Then, just like a light bulb, a bright idea popped up in his head! He had remembered a while ago when he told Seamus and all of his other dorm-mates about some good news— but it should be mentioned that this news wasn't really real at all. His position as an "assistant" to Hagrid in his class of magical creatures. Of course, seeing as Hagrid was a fairly new professor, no one had ever been his assistant yet. It was a tradition in Hogwarts where only the best of the best were chosen to teach alongside their own professors for one class. Of course, this was something Hermione had already accomplished. Not just once, but several different times. But as for Harry, he hadn't been able to achieve this just yet, as unlikely as that was. The great "Boy Who Lived" was brilliant enough to defeat Voldemort as a baby and as a teenager— yet was not brilliant enough to earn a position as an assistant teacher. Harry snorted. How ironic, he thought. Though it is worth mentioning that he did come close to in Year Six with Professor Slughorn. But that was before he realized that Harry was only using him to get information for Dumbledore.

It was rumoured that Hagrid was thinking about giving this position away, but Hermione was determined to get it. He figured, why bother? If someone as brilliant as that ran against him, he had no chance. But now that she was... Gone, for the meantime, he had his chance. He felt awful, beyond awful, for taking the opportunity from her, but if he didn't take it now he might not even graduate at all. Assisting a teacher gives an automatic increase in overall report cards each semester— especially in the class they assisted. In addition, the professor in which the student is assisting can and will put especially good words in to the job they might be taking after graduating, upon request. May it be the Ministry of Magic, a writer for The Daily Prophet; anything.

The only question left was, how would he get the position?

Harry knew that Hagrid had some sort of a bias towards him, because they had been close ever since he first arrived at Hogwarts. He thought of him as a second father.. Besides Sirius, anyway.

Now, he could play this one of two ways. One, he could simply ask Hagrid as a favor, and mention the several times he had helped him before. He tried playing it out in his head.

"Hey Hagrid, remember when I saved your precious Buckbeak from dying in year 3? Yeah, could you give me the position of assistant teacher for doing that? You owe me, after all."

Harry shook his head. No, that would only make him sound rude and selfish above all things. But the other option was... More difficult. If he were to do exceedingly well in the class this week and somehow manage to eliminate all his competition, Hagrid would have no other choice but to give him the position. After all, the first semester was drawing to a close and it is required by all professors to have chosen by then. He considered this for a moment.

It might work, he thought. Not a lot of people are good with magical creatures, and since Harry has had plenty of experience with those, he actually stood a chance of getting it.

He smiled and walked back to his dormitory with a newfound sense of purpose.