“Ugh! How can you two play chess right now! You have to study, Harry is in the hospital and… and...”
Ron looked up, expression looking a little worn out,
“We’re all worried about him, Hermione. But exams are tomorrow, and we’re not all geniuses like you and Harry. We need a break from the books every once in a while. It’s been over a month since he entered that coma, there’s nothing we can do. St. Mungo’s will take care of him until he wakes up again.”
“But… But…” Hermione was twitching and glancing around before taking a shaky breath. “He’s going to miss it! Harry can’t miss exams, he can’t pass and go to the next year if he doesn’t take them and I just wish he was…”
Neville was much more withdrawn for the last month with a haunted look on his expression whenever he thought no one was paying attention to him. He spoke up, his eyes locking with Hermione’s.
“I know more than anyone that St. Mungo’s will take care of him. I know what it’s like… My parents… my whole life I visited them and they were like that. They… Harry… He wouldn’t want us to fail exams because we were worried about him. Do you… want help with the journal? Maybe that will help you relax a bit.”
Hermione took out the book from her bag and felt its brown cover for a moment. She had bought it after the first week of Harry’s coma. She wrote in it every day about all the little events that happened, she didn’t want Harry to miss anything for when he came back.
“No. It’s… fine. I’ll just write in it for a while. Then I should study more I guess. I have to try to do as good as Harry will on the exams after he comes back.”
Ron opened his mouth but Neville put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head with a serious expression. Ron closed his mouth.
“That sounds good Hermione” Neville said, “Ron and I will study too.”
Ron looked annoyed as he stared at the half finished game of chess, but Neville’s glare silenced any protests.
“Sure thing, Neville.” Ron said, “Let’s do transfigurations again. I can’t deal with potions right now.”
“Sure,” Neville said.
Hermione ignored them as the boys put away the chess game and began studying again. She took out her quill and began writing in the next blank page of the journal. The instant her quill touched the page her heart rate lowered and she calmed down. Something about the habit always soothed her since she had started.
Half of what she wrote were random questions and answers to all sorts of things she had thought up over the day. Interesting spells that she had found in the library. She thought Harry would appreciate that given how curious he was about everything. He was never afraid to ask question even if it would offend someone.
The other half… Well Hermione tried to put what the trio had been up to. Gossip floating around, things that happened in classes, things they had done together after classes. She even included snippets of conversations that Hermione thought that Harry might find interesting sometimes. She hesitated for a second before recording her snapping at the two boys because she was worried about Harry.
After fifteen or so minutes, Hermione felt more like herself again and she had filled another page with her dense writing. She closed the book and put it back into her bag. She really should study some more, maybe potions? That would probably be her worst due to Professor Snape being truly brutal ever since Harry entered the coma and Professor Quirrell being murdered. Snape had yelled at Neville for over a minute one time because he stirred a potion wrong. It had only happened once, but the man's scathing comments were lashing out at even the Slytherins by this point.
Albus Dumbledore was substituting as the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. He was very good and Hermione learned more in one of his classes than the whole year with Quirrell. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the headmaster. She didn’t think the papers were right that everything that happened was his fault. But at the same time Hermione was sure he must have been able to do more than he had to protect Harry. She would ask Harry what he thought about it when he came back.
— — —
Hermione scribbled the last answer to her final exam, History of Magic. Things had gone excellently, and even though she had couldn’t remember some of the minor goblin rebellions she had felt confident on everything else.
McGonagall, the proctor of the exam, waved her wand and everyone’s tests floated off their desks and sorted themselves into one large pile. Hermione saw Ron and Neville frantically scribbling their last answers as their tests began to float away. Hermione smirked a little. She was relieved that it was all over. Back in the non magical world her tests had never been that stressful!
As everyone walked out of the great hall after the exam, Hermione sat in a corner and took out her journal and started writing humming to herself. Ron and Neville were talking with Seamus and some of the other boys. She could talk to them after they were done. They didn’t want to hear her brag about how well she did right now. And Hermione knew she couldn’t resist once if they asked her directly.
‘Harry, finals went pretty well. I missed a few goblin rebellions on History of Magic, but other than that I felt really good for it. I hope I do well…’
“Hey, Granger!”
Hermione looked up to see a Slytherin girl standing in front of her smirking. Ugh, Pansy Parkinson again. What did Hermione ever do to her to deserve this? Why did she keep coming after Hermione? Her two other Slytherin lackeys were standing on either side of Pansy, the two girls both wearing the same vindictive smirk as Pansy.
“Sitting alone again like a loser, writing in your little book? Look at your supposed ‘friends’, they seem to be having plenty of fun without you.”
She pointed and Hermione couldn’t resist following the finger. Ron and Neville were indeed laughing at a put upon Seamus that looked like he had just heard something unpleasant. Probably one of the more obvious test questions he had answered wrong.
Hermione looked back and Pansy Parkinson was smiling like the cat that got the canary.
“Oh, not even going to deny it? They would never be your friend if you weren’t top of the class. You are pulling those two dullards up at least a letter grade, if not two just by studying near them. The second you’re not useful to them, they’ll throw you away. They’re both purebloods, they know to use the muggle born for all their worth.”
“You… You’re wrong. They’re not like that.” Despite Hermione’s best efforts, her voice cracked as she spoke.
“Ha! Don’t you seem sure. If your grades ever drop, see how they react. Why else would they hang around a muggle born like you?”
“Shu— shut up, Pansy. You don’t know anything. Just because your parents don’t love you doesn’t mean everyone else has to be horrible too.”
Pansy’s expression broke and she snarled. “Huh? You want to talk about purebloods that way? Well, let’s see what’s so important about this little book.” She pointed her wand and Hermione and she fumbled over her words as she tried to think of what spell to use to defend herself.
“Wingardium Leviosa”
Her journal flew out of Hermione’s hands and Pansy caught it. Hermione froze as Pansy opened it to a random page and started reading. Hermione was frozen in place. She wanted to curse Pansy into oblivion, but her parents had always told her to avoid fighting. Hermione had never involved herself in the pranking wars and feuds except when she was dragged in kicking and screaming. She couldn’t bring herself to curse Pansy despite knowing that she deserved it. But she wanted the journal back too.
Pansy looked up. “Have a sweet spot for Harry Potter do we? How sad.”
There was a crowd gathering now, mostly sneering Slytherins but a few Ravenclaws as well. The other two girls next to Pansy startled at her words and leaned over to read the page in Pansy’s hands.
“So sad, because he’ll never wake up," Pansy continued, "It has been over a month already, and I’ve heard comas can last for years. I bet he won’t wake up until after we graduate at least.”
“You. You, You’re wrong. He won’t… He’ll come back.” Hermione stuttered.
“Oh, am I? So naive, so hopeful that he’ll wake up. How pathetic…”
“SHUT UP!”
The conversation stopped as Hermione screamed and began throwing every curse she had learned into Pansy and her two friends with silent spells. Petrificus totallus on all three of them locked them into place. They were unable to even move before they were frozen in place.
Hermione levitated the book back to herself and dropped it at her feet as quickly as she could. Then Hermione began continued laying into the three of them with every curse she knew and could cast quickly. Which was a lot, she had done extra research for Harry since she thought he would like interesting spells. As well as some of them being interesting all on their own.
But she didn’t care about the academics of it right now. She just layered curse after curse on the three as the surrounding Slytherins tried to stop her. Anyone that looked at her funny got cursed too until all but five or six had run away. Practicing silent casting with Harry was paying off as she blasted silent curses before her attackers could even react.
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Ron and Neville ran in to defend her from across the room after witnessing the chaos and began fight of the other Slytherins that had started jumping in. Hermione ignored everything and kept cursing the three petrified bullies, wiping her stinging eyes with her left hand for some reason.
They were still frozen, but Hermione could see the boils and swelling already beginning to break out over their skin. Their faces and arms were puffing up to alarming sizes as the various curses began compounding their effects.
“Ms. Granger!”
Hermione cast one last set of curses, not registering the voice.
“Ms. Granger!”
Hermione startled as she recognized Professor McGonagall with a thunderous expression pushing through the crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle.
Ron, Neville and the three Slytherins they had been fighting all froze in place as well.
“All six of you, come with me. We’ll be escorting these three to the medical wing.” McGonagall said, “I can’t believe right after exams, Ms. Granger involved… ”
Her voice lowered as she lifted the three frozen Slytherin girl shaped blobs of pus and floated them behind her. The boys all glanced at each other for a moment before reluctantly following behind their teacher. Hermione quickly picked up Harry’s journal, brushed off some of the dust from it, and put it back in her bag.
Then she followed, the consequences of what she had done just hitting her. She couldn’t believe she had done that! And now she would get punished. Would she get expelled?! Hermione nervously watched McGonagall’s back as the group followed her. And Hermione had been feeling so good after her exams, why did Pansy have to ruin it all?
— — —
It took Madame Pomfrey over twenty minutes to remove all the curses on Pansy as McGonagall stood there looming over the students. Pansy began screeching and screaming at Hermione after her mouth could move again and the girl had returned to humanoid proportions.
At McGonagall’s promise that they were all going to the headmaster’s office, Pansy calmed down and sent Hermione a satisfied smile, although there was a hint of fear in her eyes. Hermione wasn’t sure how she should feel about that. She had tried to not cause trouble, but it had been very satisfying to stand up for herself for once. Pansy was wrong, Harry would be fine. He couldn’t miss exams after all. Ron and Neville were shooting Hermione concerned looks, but she didn’t want to talk about it right now. She put her hand in her bag and rested it on the journal. Everything would be fine.
— — —
“...And so then I started cursing them. I’m sorry headmaster, I didn’t mean to go so far, please don’t expel me…” Hermione finished in a small voice. Snape sneered from the headmaster’s left while McGonagall stood stony faced on the right. Pansy of course had denied everything and said that Hermione had just attacked her and her friends after a friendly argument.
Ron, Neville, and the five Slytherins had already been dismissed after making their statements, and it was only Hermione and Pansy left. Pansy looked delighted that she had gotten Hermione in trouble. Not seeming to care at all about all the curses that Hermione had cast on her a few minutes ago.
“Typical of Gryffindor,” Snape drawled, “to lose control so badly. You could be expelled for this, attacking another student this way.”
Pansy’s subtle smirk grew wider as Hermione glanced at her. McGonagall’s face shifted and she looked annoyed. “Severus…”
Snape put up his hand to stop her. His face was twisted into a frown, and Hermione sensed a faint hint of anger in his tone.
“I’m not finished.” He turned to Pansy Parkinson. “But you Ms. Parkinson were far more foolish.” In in instant Pansy’s smirk was wiped away and she looked struck.
“There are lines you do not cross in your taunts. A friend in a coma is one of these lines. Harry Potter, who was attacked by a Slytherin student this year. How does it look that you are targeting his friends as soon as he is gone? Ms. Granger eliminated all three of you in seconds, you were at her mercy. I have seen wizards and witches do far worse than a few minor hexes when lost in their rages. You would do well to remember that in the future. Many other witches out in the world would have done far worse to you than what could be healed by Madame Pomfrey if they were in Ms. Granger's shoes.”
Snape stepped back, seeming finished as Pansy seemed frozen as she processed the words, paled, and then nodded.
The headmaster spoke, “Well said, Severus. Let this be a lesson to the both to you. To not let your emotions control you,” The headmaster looked at Hermione, “And to consider your words before you speak them,” The headmaster looked at Pansy with a far more severe expression and the girl shrunk into her seat.
“Yes, Headmaster.” The two girls replied one after another.
The Headmaster let out a sigh, “Severus, I leave Ms. Parkinson’s punishment to you. I assume you can come up with something suitable. There’s not much time left in the semester, and in this case I will permit this punishment to carry over to next year.”
Snape nodded and a nasty smirk came over his face that made Hermione shudder.
“Yes, Headmaster. I do believe I can. Come along, Ms. Parkinson. I have just the thing.”
He swept out of the office with Pansy reluctactly trailing behind him. She sent one last glare at Hermione before exiting the room.
“Now for you, Ms. Granger.”
Hermione’s head snapped back to the Headmaster and she started fidgeting. What would her punishment be?
“Your head of House McGonagall will also administer her own punishment. There will be no expulsion or suspension.”
Hermione sighed in relief. McGonagall stood and went to leave.
“Ah, Minerva?”
“Yes, Headmaster?” McGonagall replied.
“Could you get the door? I have another matter I wish to discuss with Ms. Granger. I do not think it will be long.”
McGonagall hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Granger, report to my office after the headmaster dismisses you.” And with that she left and shut the door behind her.
The headmaster sat in silence staring down Hermione in silence.
“So, erm. Headmaster. What did you want to talk about?”
“Was I correct in hearing that you are casting your spells silently during your scuffle with Ms. Parkinson?”
“Uhm. Yes, Headmaster. I… Harry learned it when he was mute. He… He helped me learn silent casting afterwards. It took a few weeks the first time, but it’s been getting easier as I go. I actually like silent casting more now, I try to learn all the spells I know silently when I can.”
The Headmaster’s eyebrows rose. “All of them? Why don’t you demonstrate for me? That is quite the achievement if that is true…”
Hermione showed all the charms and basic transfiguration spells that were on exams and cast them silently.
The Headmaster’s eyes twinkled and he suddenly clapped his hands together. “Excellent! Generally silent casting is taught in sixth year, it is quite different from normal spellcasting. But you seem to be a natural. Now, that was quite the array of curses you cast on Pansy Parkinson. Why don’t you demonstrate what you believe to be your most complicated curse. It’s clear you’ve mastered the first year’s material.”
Hermione hesitated. What was going on, why was the headmaster complimenting her all of the sudden? Dumbledore waved his wand and a mannequin appeared from nowhere to stand in front of Hermione.
“There you go, Ms. Granger. Just cast your most advanced spells and curses at it. I wish to assess your level. This dummy is enchanted to mimic the effects of the spells cast on it.”
Was Dumbledore… testing her? Why? Hermione focused on the dummy and thought of all the extra spells and curses she had learned. What was the hardest one to learn? None of them were classified by grade level like the spells in the textbook. Oh, she remembered how hard this one had been. It had taken her two whole weeks of nonstop work to get it right by testing it on some transfigured animals. She still couldn’t cast it right half the time.
“Replica Brachium Sorcia!”
The dummy stood still for a second and nothing appeared to happen. Then it shuddered and a human arm tinged with blue light burst from its chest. The arm flailed around and attempted to grasp or hit whatever it contacted. A few seconds later the dummy shuddered again and another arm emerged from its waist. Then another, and another, and another…
The arms began fighting as more blue glowing arms began smacking and grasping each other until the dummy was a mass of flailing limbs.
“Extraordinary.”
Hermione turned and saw Dumbledore staring at the dummy intently. He returned her look after a moment. He stroked his beard and leaned back still stroking his beard as he considered the dummy,
“Can you undo this curse, Ms. Granger?”
Oh. Hermione stared back at it in a panic. Errr… No, she couldn’t. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She put her eyes on the floor.
“No, Headmaster. I’m sorry…”
“Ah, don’t be! I would be surprised if you could. This is an example of a self-replicating curse.”
Hermione looked up. Huh?
The headmaster continued, “Watch this.”
He flicked his wand and all the blue arms sticking out of the dummy disappeared. Hermione watched it for a second before it shook again and a blue arm emerged from its forehead and began thrashing again.
Hermione blinked. “Huh? But I thought you dispelled it, why did it come back?”
The Headmaster nodded. “There is a deeper layer to that curse that is creating the arms over time, something that is not removed with a simple dispel. The arms themselves are magically independent once they are anchored to the flesh. Much like the literacy curse on your friend Harry. This is one of the simplest examples of such a mechanism I’ve seen. It’s even more impressive you were able to cast it without understanding the underlying mechanism of it. I would estimate this spell is at least sixth or seventh year level in complexity. However, silent casting helps significantly, which likely helped you learn this spell. Where did you learn that curse?”
Hermione shifted. “In the Hogwarts library. It was in ‘Ascension Beyond the Flesh’ by James Kensit. I think it was enchanted. After I finished reading it, it had disappeared from where I had left it. The author was rather arrogant, but his spells were amazing. Over the half of it was him rambling about how great wizards are and a bunch of philosophy, but it had good explanations for the spell diagrams.”
“James Kensit… Where have I heard that name before? Hmmm.”
There was a moment of silence as Hermione stood there. She swallowed nervously and the Headmaster seemed to snap out of his pondering.
“Well, no matter. Maybe I will see this book myself. This spell would be a good addition to the curriculum for the more advanced students. You have indulged my curiosity and impressed me, but now it is time for your additional punishment.”
Hermione tensed. Here it came.
“For the rest of term, and perhaps next year, you will be serving detention with me.” He paused and then smiled kindly, “And perhaps I can provide some personal magic lessons to a talented young witch such as yourself. I have high hopes for you if you can accomplish this much in only your first year. So, how does that sound?”
Hermione was rooted to the spot. The headmaster, the most powerful wizard in Britain, wanted to teach her personally.
“Yes, Sir.” She squeaked, “I mean, I would be honored sir. I know you must be very busy and I’m very grateful and I’m sorry about the curses and…”
Dumbledore chuckled and raised his hand to stop her rambling. “Ah, ah. All is forgiven, Professor McGonagall will make sure you pay your due punishment. I expect you here tomorrow at three o’clock promptly. I have high hopes for your lessons. Just make sure to complain of your ‘detentions’ a little if you would. Don’t want the other students to be jealous after all.”
The headmaster winked, and Hermione frantically bobbed her head.
“Yes, Headmaster! I won’t tell anyone, I promise! I’ll try my hardest.”
The headmaster chuckled again, “Very good, very good. Now, run along. I’m sure your head of house is impatiently waiting for you.”
“Yes, Headmaster. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Hermione scrambled off, practically skipping at thinking she would be tutored by the great Dumbledore personally. The doors to the headmaster’s office swung closed. No one else saw Albus Dumbledore’s kind smile wash away into a calculating expression that would do any Slytherin proud. Another piece to leverage to further his goals was falling into place.