Winter's Knowledge

Chapter 2 Joining of Houses

The first year of Hermione's life was uneventful. Hermione spent most of her time learning to walk, talk, and get control of her bowels again. She found it odd being a nineteen-year-old trapped in the body of a one-year-old. There were so many things she wanted to do and see but couldn't because she was only a baby. The good thing was that her father, who was Lord of the Eyrie and Warden of the East, spent as much time with her as possible. Hermione assumed it was her father's way of making up for not having a mother. But in reality, Jon adored his daughter and couldn't get enough of her.

When Hermione was old enough to walk, Jon would walk her around the Eyrie and tell her their family history. He knew she didn't understand him, but she seemed to like it. In truth, Hermione was absorbing everything that her father was telling her. His knowledge was astounding, and Hermione loved it. Once Hermione started walking and running, it didn't take long for her to start talking.

Hermione's first words were, of course, Dada, which sent Jon's heart soaring as high as a falcon. He praised her and tickled her and announced to the entire keep that his daughter was a prodigy. That statement was soon verified when Hermione's speech became more apparent and more precise. So by the time she was three, Hermione could speak in clear, complete sentences.

Another thing that proved her intelligence was her insistence on learning how to read, “I want to learn to read, and either Maester Coleman teaches me my letters now, or I'll teach myself, Daddy,” Hermione declared one day when Jon found her in the library trying to take a large book down from the shelf.

Jon tried not to laugh at seeing his three-year-old put her hands on her hips after Jon helped her take her book down. Hermione looked exactly like her mother when Jeyne wanted something, “Alright, little one; I will tell Maester Coleman to start your lessons.”

Hermione squealed and jumped into her father's arms, “Thank you, Daddy,” Then she started pulling him from the library.

“Where are we going, little falcon?” Jon asked

“To find Maester Coleman, I want to start today!”

Jon laughed and picked up his insistent daughter and carried her up to the rookery where Maester Coleman was tending to the Ravens. On his instructions, Maester Coleman started Hermione's lessons that afternoon. It was hard for Hermione to dumb down her intelligence; she was a twenty-one year old in a three-year-old's body, after all. She decided that she would wait a few weeks and then start progressing faster in her studies.

Maester Coleman was astonished at how quickly the young falcon absorbed information and thirsted for more. It cemented for him the idea that Hermione was a prodigy and that he could begin to teach her harder things. So he started to show Hermione her numbers and the history of Westeros.

On the days that Hermione wasn't studying with Maester Coleman or playing with her cousin Elbert, she was practicing her magic. Her magic was very wild and hard to focus, but Hermione tried her hardest to cast spells without a wand. She knew that eventually, she would somehow have to construct a wand for herself. Hermione had a pretty good idea of what wood she could use to make it; she thought that she could use the limb from the Weirwood tree that was there in the courtyard. The tree was small, but Hermione could still sense the magic in it. The only problem was finding a core for her wand. But that was something she was going to have to worry about later.

As the years went by, Jon noticed that Hermione was becoming increasingly wild. He would more often than not find her in breeches running around with Elbert playing Knights and sword fighting. She would come back to the keep covered in mud and sweat, but very happy. Hermione's nursemaid was having a hard time convincing Hermione that she needed to wear dresses and not play with the boys so much. But Hermione wouldn't hear of it.