The Confectionary Chronicles || HP/SPN

Sweets and Studies- Ch10

CHAPTER TEN:

After classes finished for the day, Hermione said goodbye to Millie and headed for the Transfiguration classroom for her tea and biscuits appointment with the Transfiguration Mistress. Professor McGonagall was waiting for her there and the professor smiled at her when she arrived.

"My office isn't far," she said, and Hermione followed happily, wondering if the invitation to tea and biscuits was going to be like their letter exchanges except face-to-face, rather then by ink and parchment.

Professor McGonagall's office was a lot like her. It was very neat and orderly, there was a lot of tartan, a large bookshelf that was entirely filled, and a very small portrait of a younger Professor McGonagall with a man Hermione didn't recognise. There was already a pot of tea waiting for them and a container of gingersnap biscuits and Hermione happily sat down and took a sip of her tea.

"How are you settling in at Hogwarts, Miss Granger?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Oh, please call me Hermione, at least if we're in private," Hermione said earnestly, "we've written to each other so much, it seems a bit strange to hear you say Miss Granger."

Professor McGonagall smiled. "Very well. How are you settling in at Hogwarts, Hermione?"

"Well, the classes are amazing, even if some of them they are a bit... easy," Hermione admitted, "and I won't lie and say there's no friction with my Housemates. Professor Snape may have mentioned there was a slight altercation yesterday–"

"If that's a 'slight' altercation, Hermione, I dread to think what a mild to moderate altercation might look like," Professor McGonagall interjected dryly, and Hermione smiled a bit sheepishly.

"–but I've got a plan to sort everything out," she said. "And it's not like I don't have any friends. I've actually got lots of friends! I've got Millie and Neville and I sit with Justin in some classes and with Dean and his friends in Study Hall– it's so nice, Professor!" she beamed. Professor McGonagall smiled fondly down at her.

"It does my heart quite a bit of good to hear that, Hermione." She said. "But there was another reason why I wanted to talk to you today."

"Oh?" Hermione asked, frowning as she tried to think of anything she'd done wrong recently.

"You're not being challenged in my class," Professor McGonagall told her. "And I daresay you're not being challenged in most of your classes, but my class in particular. Usually, I would advise for you to be moved up a year level, but in your case I think it's important that you maintain the social connections you've made. Would I be right in thinking that?"

"You would be," Hermione said quickly. "But... I am a bit bored sometimes," she had to admit.

"Which is why some of your professors who feel you're not being challenged in their classes, myself included, are going to organise to talk to you and, if you agree, assign you extracurricular projects that you will be expected to work on once you have finished the assigned classwork," Professor McGonagall explained. "If you're interested, I can put together the assignment over this weekend and present it to you in class next week. Would this be something you wish to pursue?"

"Yes," Hermione said instantly, her eyes shining. "Yes, definitely!"

Professor McGonagall smiled warmly at her enthusiasm. "Very well, I'll see that it is done. How you weren't a Ravenclaw, Hermione, I have no idea." She said, and Hermione laughed.

"Too ambitious, I think." She said.

"Perhaps," Professor McGonagall agreed. "Biscuit?" She offered the container of gingersnaps to Hermione.