That evening, Hermione's father gave his final consent to sending Hermione to Hogwarts. He couldn't dispute the existence of magic any more, but he didn't seem very happy with the whole situation.
“This world sounds dangerous to me, I can't say I like it,” he said. “But since you really want to go and after all the money we spent today, I suppose I'll have to swallow my objections.”
Hermione spent the rest of the summer in her room or the garden, reading the books she had bought in Diagon Alley. Simple Spells for Beginners interested her the most, but the book recommended that she read Magical Theory first, so she started with that. She learned about the source of magical energy, of the limitations of magic and what enabled a human to do magic. When she had memorized the book, she could finally start the thin booklet.
Every young witch and wizard wants to do spells once they learn about their powers. But only few spells are easy enough to learn without help or preparation. This book presents these spells in a way that is easy to understand for both pure bloods and Muggle-borns. Please remember these important guidelines:
Be well rested whenever you attempt to do magic. Tiredness can lead to accidents.
Do not try any spells where anyone can see or hear you or the effects of your spell.
Don't give up. You can't expect any spell to work the first time you try it. Relax, read the instructions again and keep trying.
On it went, explaining the way to hold the wand and some pronunciation rules. Then, finally, it presented the first spell.
THE UNLOCKING CHARM Source: Hawaiian/Latin Discovered in: Unknown, very old Effect: Unlocks and opens doors shut with a mechanical lock or a simple shutting spell. Wand Movement: Tap the lock or door in question with your wand. Word: Alohomora (a-LO-ho-MOR-ra) Comments: This is a very easy, yet useful charm. It's presented first because of its easiness to pronounce and because there is nearly no chance of causing damage with a mistake. You can practice on any door at all. It is easier to open an unlocked door, so you might want to try that first.
Hermione, who had been lying on her bed, took her wand and walked over to the door of her room. She tapped the handle and said, “Allohomora.” Nothing happened. She went back to the book and looked at the instructions again. The first 'a' was supposed to be a little longer. She went back to the door. “Alohomora,” she said, tapping the handle again. There was a click and the door opened. Grinning, Hermione shut it again and turned the key. Then she repeated the spell. The key turned on its own, the door was open again. Satisfied for the moment, Hermione went back to her book.
She spent the rest of the day learning every spell in the booklet, reading late into the night, using not her usual reading light but her wand. One of the spells had been the Lumos spell, which made the end of her wand glow brightly. When Jane came in to say goodnight, she was very impressed by the shining wand and the other spells Hermione showed her.
“Nox,” Hermione finally whispered and the room went dark.
As the summer continued, even David stopped being upset about Hermione's approaching departure to Hogwarts and started taking pride in his daughter's special ability. Not least, so Hermione suspected, because of the book Professor Wright had selected for her parents, Muggle-born, and the list of security measures at Hogwarts she had made for him. She had learned about them in Hogwarts: A History. The large book contained a wealth of information. She learned that the four sections of the coat of arms stood for the four houses at Hogwarts, which were named after the four founders of the school.
Hermione read on. She memorized all of the plants in One Thousand Magical Herbs And Fungi, learned about goblin rebellions, giant wars, dark wizards and Harry Potter. She read about the discovery of Dragon Fence Spells, which were a great aid to keeping dragons in their reservations, about the war with Grindelwald and his defeat and about You-Know-Who and Harry Potter. She found You-Know-Who's real name in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Lord Voldemort. It was written in very tiny script, as if the author had been afraid to write it. He probably had been, Hermione decided, and she could understand it. The book described the horrors of the dark times very lividly, supported by moving pictures that made her stomach clench. She also found the story about You-Know-Who's defeat by Harry Potter. There was more information here than in any of the other books, an account of all that was known about the boy and his parents. His mother, Lily Evans, was Muggle-born, his father, James Potter, of an old wizard family. The author hadn't been able to find out the boy's whereabouts after his parents' deaths, but rumor had it that he lived with Muggles.
The end of August approached. Hermione had learned all of her books by heart and her Alohomora spell unlocked even the front door with its complicated magnetic lock. Having nothing else to do she sat around, trying to work out which house she would be in. Gryffindor sounded the best. Professor Dumbledore had been a Gryffindor. Though she assumed she probably would be in Ravenclaw. Harry Potter would be a Gryffindor of course.
Harry Potter. He was magical, just like her. All the kids at Hogwarts would be magical, like her. For the first time she would meet people who were like her. For the first time she would find real friends, not just people who depended on her to get through school. She didn't really know what it was like to have friends, only what she had read in stories about real friends. It sounded wonderful.
And then it was the evening of the thirty-first of August. Jane sent Hermione to bed early, saying that they had to get up at seven if they were to reach the train in time. Hermione rolled around in her bed for hours, unable to sleep from excitement. She woke after what seemed only minutes of sleep, but her clock showed that it was six-thirty in the morning. She dressed and got up. Both her parents were already up too and sitting at the breakfast table. In no time at all they were finished and sitting in the car, driving to London. They arrived at King's Cross far earlier than they had expected, with more than an hour to spare. Jane fussed about as if she wanted to use the full hour for her goodbye, but Hermione was too eager to get onto the train to have any of it. After a few minutes she gave her parents a last wave and then, quickly checking if anyone was watching her, stepped through the barrier, pushing the trolley with her trunk ahead.
Platform nine and three quarters was largely deserted, but a red steam train was already waiting. Aside from Hermione there were only a boy and a girl on the platform, both in their late teens. They spotted her and came over.
“Hi. First year at Hogwarts?” the boy asked. Hermione nodded.
“Welcome, then. I'm Richard, this is Julie. We're Head Boy and Girl this year.” So Hermione's guess had been right.
“I'm Hermione,” she said.
“You're very early,” Richard observed. Hermione blushed a little.
“I couldn't wait,” she admitted.
“You're Muggle-born?” Julie asked. Hermione nodded again.
“You will like it at Hogwarts,” Julie said, smiling. “Don't worry. Everybody likes it there.”
“Come on, we'll help you with your trunk,” Richard offered. He pulled out his wand and performed a swift gesture. “Wingardium Leviosa,” he said. The trunk rose into the air and hovered there. Richard gave it a shove and it glided through the train door into the first compartment, where it landed on a seat.
“Levitation,” Julie explained as she climbed into the train. “It's one of the first things you'll learn in Charms.”
They ensured that Hermione was comfortable in her compartment and then went outside again.
“We have to keep order on the platform,” Richard said. “See you in Ravenclaw, hopefully.”
“Don't listen to him,” Julie said, giving him a sly look. “Hufflepuff's the only house worth being in.” They left the compartment quarrelling.
Hermione changed into her Hogwarts robe and looked out of the window. More students were slowly starting to arrive, trickling through the arch of wrought iron that was this side of the barrier.
Some came in alone, some in groups, some with their families. They gathered in small groups on the platform. Some walked among the groups, apparently looking for friends. A few, probably the prefects, were approached by Julie and Richard and went to the front end of the train. Others boarded the train too, but nobody came into Hermione's compartment. Hermione saw the ugly girl from Madam Malkin's again, together with a few other young, mean-looking girls.
Time went by. More and more people boarded the train, but the platform seemed to become more crowded instead of less. A dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks was attracting a small crowd with something he was hiding in a box.
There was a knock before the compartment door slid open. A girl with long, dark brown hair which she wore in a plait was standing outside.
“Do you mind if I sit there?” she asked.
“Not at all,” Hermione replied, smiling. She stood up to help the girl with her trunk. “Are you a first-year too?”
The girl nodded. “I'm Susan Bones.”
“Hermione Granger.”
The girl sat down in the seat opposite Hermione, who continued to look out of the window. A red-haired boy had just appeared through the gateway and headed towards Richard. Two more red-haired boys, twins by their looks, followed in quick succession. They ploughed a way through the crowd around the boy with dreadlocks and greeted him heartily with a long and complicated handshake sequence which ended with one of the twins getting behind the boy and giving him a hard push into the other twin. Hermione grinned and looked back at the gate. Three more red-heads had appeared: a boy of about her age, a small girl and, holding her hand, a woman who probably was the mother of all these children. She was looking around, trying to see over the heads of the students to find her own.
Another knock on the door distracted Hermione. A round-faced boy came in, dragging his trunk with one hand and clutching a big, ugly toad with the other.
“Do you have a seat left?” he asked timidly.
Susan nodded towards one of the empty seats. The boy placed his toad carefully on the other and heaved his trunk into the overhead rack.
“I'm Neville,” he said. “Neville Longbottom.” The girls introduced themselves and he sat down.
Shortly after that the train began to move. Parents and siblings were waving, and the small red-haired girl was running along with the train until it gathered too much speed for her. The train sped through London, a good deal faster than Hermione would have expected any steam train to go. Soon inner London gave way to the outskirts, then the outskirts to open land. Hermione's stomach felt like someone had blown it up. She was on the school train to Hogwarts, off to learn magic.
“So,” started the other girl in their compartment, making Hermione jump, “any idea what houses you two will be in?”
The boy just shook his head. Hermione felt her voice strangely hindered by her stomach.
“Gryffindor or Ravenclaw,” she finally said very quickly. “And you?”
“Hufflepuff,” Susan answered with certainty and pride. “All my family's been in it.”
Neville looked at her, puzzlement in his face, but very quickly looked down again when she noticed his look. Hermione wanted to ask what that was about, but was stopped by the compartment door opening. A smiling and generally very friendly-looking witch stood outside with a trolley of food.
“Anything off the trolley?” she asked. All three stood up and went outside. Hermione's eyes went wide. She didn't know any of the things the witch sold. There were bags of small, colourful beans labelled Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, packages of Droobles Best Blowing Gum, boxes of Chocolate Frogs, rows of Pumpkin Pasties, stacks of Cauldron Cakes and a pile of Liquorice Wands. She ended up buying some pasties and cakes and a box of beans. Having two dentists as parents discouraged her from buying any of the other sweets.
They returned to their compartment. Susan unwrapped a pasty and started to eat it, while Neville opened his own Every Flavour Beans and took out a green one. He sniffed at it and nibbled the end carefully. He nodded to himself, looked around, his eyes suddenly going wide, and asked, “Have you seen Trevor?” There was a slight note of panic in his voice.
“Trevor?” Hermione asked.
“My toad,” Neville explained. “He keeps getting away. He could be anywhere and I want to give him the bean, he'd like it. How am I going to find him on the train?” he wailed.
“Look,” Hermione tried to comfort him, “he's probably still in this compartment. Come on, we'll help you search.” But the toad wasn't in the luggage rack, nor under the seats. Neville looked close to tears by the end of their search.
“Maybe someone has seen him,” he said desperately, “I'll go and ask.” With this he left the compartment.
“Odd,” Susan commented as she sat back on her seat.
“What's odd?” Hermione asked.
“It's odd that he loses the toad. They usually sit where you put them or crawl a bit away, but never that far. It's also odd that he brings a toad at all. I mean, they're so out of fashion, it's a good way to get people to make fun of you.”
Some time passed without Neville returning. The farms ended and forests began. Hermione grew anxious.
“Do you think we should help him?” she asked. Susan looked up from the book she was reading.
“Maybe,” she answered. “But we shouldn't leave the compartment completely empty.”
“You stay here then, I'll go looking for him.”
In way of an answer, Susan buried her nose in her book again. Hermione got up and left the compartment. She was lucky that the compartment was at one end of the train, she couldn't miss Neville this way. She strode along the train, casting glances into the compartments where people were talking, eating and laughing. But no Neville. Finally, near the end of the train, she spotted his round and worried face.
“No luck?” she asked. Neville just shook his head. He looked miserable.
“Come on, I'll help you. We'll just ask everybody again.”
They slowly made their way back through the train. At each compartment Hermione asked for signs of the toad, but no one could help them. She opened another door and said, “Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one.”
Only after the words were out of her mouth did she take the scene in the compartment in. On one seat sat a thin boy in too-large clothes. They hung on him like old bags. The seats were littered with sweets and their packages. But Hermione's eyes were drawn to the second boy, who was obviously the youngest of the red-headed family she had seen on the platform. There was a rat sleeping in his lap, he had his wand in his hand and raised and his mouth was opened to speak. She hardly noticed him turning to her, saying, “We already told him we haven't seen it.”
“Oh, are you doing magic?” she asked. “Let's see it, then.” She brushed a seat clear of trash and sat down, anxious to see someone else, someone from a wizarding family, do magic.
“Er... all right,” the boy said, somewhat surprised. He cleared his throat.
“Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,
turn this stupid, fat rat yellow.”
He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Hermione was puzzled. The spell was apparently supposed to turn the grey rat yellow, but it didn't sound like any of the spells she had done. It also hadn't worked. Maybe she didn't have all that much catching up to do? The balloon in her stomach suddenly seemed to pop, releasing a flood of things she wanted to say.
“Are you sure that's a real spell?” she started. “Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard... I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough... I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?”
The boys exchanged stunned looks. What was up with them?
“I'm Ron Weasley,” the red-head muttered.
“Harry Potter,” the other said. Hermione's eyes went wide. This was the Boy Who Lived? This boy, with messy, jet-black hair, glasses that were mended with Sellotape and second-hand clothes was the hero of the wizarding world? And he proclaimed it like it was nothing special at all.
“Are you really?” Hermione blurted out. “I know all about you, of course... I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.”
Harry's face had gone completely blank. “Am I?” was all he said. Didn't he know? Maybe, if he had lived with Muggles, he had been so shut from the Wizarding World... but that was impossible.
“Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me,” she said. Then a new thought popped into her head.
“Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best, I hear Dumbledore himself was one, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad...” She hadn't really asked around, but she had read a few books, she had seen Richard and Julie bickering and she had heard the pride in Susan's voice and it was the same to her. “Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon.” At the speed the train was going, this seemed to be a reasonable assumption. She stood up and left the compartment, taking Neville with her.
“Harry Potter,” Neville whispered in awe. “I am at school with Harry Potter.” He didn't seem too happy about it, though.
Hermione shook her head ever so slightly.
None of the next compartments offered any clue to Trevor's whereabouts either, and they slowly drew closer to their own compartment. Hermione slid open another door and launched in her usual phrase.
The answer were chuckles and sneers. The compartment was quite cramped with three boys, two of them huge, and two girls. Hermione recognized one of them as the ugly girl she had seen in Diagon Alley. The girl eyed her with contempt.
“Lost a toad, has he?” a drawling voice asked. It belonged to the smallest of the boys, who had pale skin and very light hair. “Well, that's a real pity. I'm so sorry for him.” He didn't sound sorry at all, though. The other boys guffawed stupidly and the girls let out high, shrieking giggles.
“Maybe he'll get a proper pet now,” the boy continued. “Really, he should be thankful that he's lost the toad.” At the word toad he wrinkled his nose. Neville's face had gone completely red.
“Really, who do you think you are, talking like that?” Hermione asked coldly.
“I'm Draco Malfoy,” the boy answered, his sneer replaced by loathing. “And in case you didn't know, the Malfoys are very important.”
“Well, Harry Potter is very important too and he was polite.” She shut the door hard and stalked away.
Darkness was slowly settling in. Hermione and Neville continued their search all the way to the front, but Trevor didn't turn up. When they reached their own compartment, Hermione excused herself to speak with the driver. She went past the prefects' compartments to the engine, where she found not only the driver but also the witch with the trolley. They were both very friendly and told her that it wasn't too long now. As she turned to go she saw something that made her smile: Neville's toad was sitting on the trolley, well hidden between the various snacks. She took up the toad and went back to her compartment. Neville fell over himself in thanking her. She waved it off and Neville set to feeding some Every Flavour Beans to the toad.
Hermione sat back down but found that she couldn't sit still. They were nearly at Hogwarts now. The balloon had come back. She decided to wander the corridors once more.
People must have grown bored in the compartments, because they were now out in the corridors in greater numbers than before. Children of Hermione's age and a little older were racing up and down the corridors, behaving, in Hermione's opinion, like six-year-olds. She walked on the rear end of the train, hoping that things would be more quiet there.
They weren't. She had reached the second to last wagon when she heard a cry of pain ahead of her. She quickened her steps. Opening the door to the last wagon, she saw the arrogant boy with the silver-blonde hair – Malfoy? – run out of a compartment in the back, followed by the other two boys she had seen with him. One of them was clutching his hand. When they saw her, they quickly disappeared in another compartment.
Hermione ran to the door they had been coming out from. It was where she had met Harry Potter. She stuck her head into the compartment. The sweets that had previously been lying on the empty seats were scattered all over the floor. Harry was still looking at the door, surprise in his eyes. Ron was picking up his rat from the floor.
“What has been going on?” she asked.
“I think he's been knocked out,” Ron said to Harry, completely ignoring her. He fussed over his rat. “No... I don't believe it... he's gone back to sleep.”
The rat seemed indeed to be sleeping, but Hermione couldn't judge accurately from the door. The boys still ignored her.
“You've met Malfoy before?” Ron asked Harry now.
“Yeah, in Diagon Alley, at Madam Malkin's. Didn't like him even then. When he heard my parents were dead he only asked if they were a witch and a wizard. Drawled something about how the 'other kind' shouldn't be admitted to Hogwarts. Git.”
“I've heard of his family. They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side.” Ron said this in a dark voice, then decided to finally acknowledge Hermione's presence. “Can we help you with something?”
“You'd better hurry up and put your robes on,” she answered testily, “I've just been up to the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!”
They didn't like to hear it. Ron scowled at her. Well, it was true.
“Scabbers has been fighting, not us,” he said. “Would you mind leaving while we change?”
No, she didn't mind.
“All right – I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors. And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?” He glared even harder at her than before. She turned away abruptly, her hair flowing behind her.
She went back to her own compartment. Before she reached it the driver's voice echoed through the train: “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.” She ran back to the compartment. People were coming out of the doors and filling the corridor. She fought her way through the crowd. The train slowed and came to a stop just as she had reached the front of the train. She joined Susan and Neville and stepped out of the train. The air was cold, goosebumps were crawling up her arms. Then she forgot about the cold.
A giant of a man, three times as high as her, was walking towards the students, carrying a lantern which he held high over their heads.
“Firs'-years!” the giant called. “Firs'-years over here! All right there, Harry?” So he knew Harry Potter. Well, most people probably knew him, or at least of him.
“C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!”
It was good advice. The ground was very slippery and the path they walked was narrow and steep. It seemed to be enclosed in something, but it was so dark by now that Hermione couldn't see what. Neville, who walked right in front of her, seemed to have special difficulties. She heard him muttering to himself, sniffing occasionally.
“Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,” the giant called, “jus' round this bend here.”
People in front of Hermione stopped in their track, shouts of wonder rising up in the air. Hermione couldn't yet see the castle and grew impatient. Then she finally rounded the bend herself. Her mouth fell open. A dark, large lake was stretching out in front of her. Whatever had been lining the path had gone and she was standing on a wide shore now. But her eyes were drawn to the lights in the distance. There, on top of a high mountain, stood Hogwarts. She couldn't find words to properly describe it. It was an enormous castle with seemingly thousands of windows which were sparkling in a contest with the stars in the night sky. Turrets and towers were reaching up like tentacles or the stems of some exotic plant. The banners on top of them seemed to be glowing; they were easily visible in the darkness, flowing with the wind.
Someone pushed her forward from behind. She nearly fell, but caught herself and stumbled forward. As if a spell had been broken she now started noticing her surroundings properly. On the water in front of her bobbed a fleet of little boats. They weren't tied anywhere, but they didn't flow away. The giant was pointing at them.
“No more'n four to a boat!” he called. Hermione followed Neville to a boat and sat down on one of the benches in it. Harry and Ron were sitting on the other bench.
“Everyone in?” the giant shouted. He was alone in a boat. “Right then... FORWARD!”
The boats seemed to be enchanted in a similar way as the parchment of her letter. Obeying the command, they all started moving towards the mountain and castle. Complete silence had settled over the lake. Not a ripple disturbed the surface of the water and no one made a noise. Everyone was staring at the castle, which drew slowly nearer and looked even more impressive when it was towering high over them. The boats were heading directly towards the steep cliff that was on this side of the mountain.
“Heads down!” the giant commanded. The first boats had reached the cliff and disappeared through a curtain of ivy. Hermione and the others bent their heads as they entered a dark tunnel that was hidden by the curtain. When the boats finally stopped, she guessed that they must have been directly underneath the castle. They had reached some sort of harbour.
When all the students had arrived and climbed out of the boats, the giant checked all the boats once again.
“Oy, you there!” he called to Neville. “Is this your toad?”
“Trevor!” Neville cried. He took the toad from the giant. Hermione shook her head ever so slightly.
There was a narrow tunnel leading up from the harbour. The giant led them up the tunnel until they finally reached the surface. The came out on smooth, damp grass, right next to the castle's main entrance. A single flight of stone steps led up the the large, oak door. There they stopped. The giant looked around.
“Everyone here? You there, still got your toad?”
He raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.