Hermione's Letter

Chapter 3

Harry and Ron simply sat in their comfortable train seats, having been paralysed by the content of the letter that Hermione had just handed them. Both kept opening their mouths to speak, but words failed to emerge every time, until eventually Ron managed to make a comment.

"Bloody hell..."

Hermione nodded, looking intently at Ron. "I think that about sums it up."

Harry was next to speak as he asked Hermione if she thought this letter was genuine. It all seemed so unbelievable, but Hermione would know if it was genuine or not. She seemed to Harry to be a coliseum of intelligence. A rather nice attribute of hers, he thought to himself.

"Well, I was dubious at first, but now I think it may well be a genuine letter and not a prank. I mean look at the spells on this sheet here," she said, handing Harry the sheet that had been attached to the letter, "which came with the letter. They wouldn't be available to just anyone. I remember reading in a book about this one here," she continued, indicating the top spell on the sheet, "but these others I've never seen before. Which suggests to me they are either of a higher level of magic than anything we know, or they are fake, but I know a spell when I see one, and I don't believe these are fakes. They certainly aren't 'turn this stupid fat rat yellow', are they Ron?"

Ron grimaced at this. He'd had plenty of pranks played on him before, but his brother having caused humiliation to him in front of the great Harry Potter and his other best friend, Hermione, was a little more memorable than the usual prank. And she apparently remembered it, too, which somewhat bothered Ron. What did Hermione think of him? That he was a good friend and a really nice person? Or just a gullible fool with no money?

He cursed himself for even thinking it. Yet he couldn't eradicate the doubts from his mind.

Great, now I'll have to speak to her about it, he thought. Sometimes I hate my mind...

"Secondly," Hermione continued, as Ron continued to mull over his relationship with Hermione, "it does at least sound like my writing, I would probably do this if I were in a situation as desperate as my future self appears to be."

"But we can't be sure that it isn't just a stupid prank by someone with access to high level spells," piped in Ron. "Think about it. Draco's father probably has access to this type of magic. He could have given it to him, or perhaps Draco sneaked a look at his father's magic books without him knowing. You know how tricky that git can be."

Hermione, of course, had considered these possibilities already, while she had spent so long thinking about the letter on her way to the station. "We can't be sure; and that's the main problem. So we must find out if it's true," she almost recited.

Harry looked up at Hermione's deep brown eyes, for the first time absorbing their innate beauty, something he had never really seen before, but then hadn't looked for either.

"But how?" he said to her, when he noticed her staring back at him with a querying look on her face.

Hermione's expression indicated her disgust at what she was about to say, or her disgust at Harry's staring, Harry couldn't work out which.

"We could do what we did before: brew some Polyjuice Potion and turn into Crabbe and Goyle. Only this time I'm making sure I don't get cat hair. And I'll try and do something about the taste of the mixture too. I felt like my throat was going to explode when I drunk it last time, and that is a sensation I do not want to experience again."

Ron looked just as disgusted, if not more so. He had had two such experiences in his second year at Hogwarts - the Polyjuice potion, the sensations of which he had shared with Harry and Hermione, and the time a curse had backfired and he had had no choice but to belch up slugs for half an hour, which was a similarly disagreeable event.

"Aww Hermione, do we really have to do that? I mean, isn't there any other way? Can't we just read his mind or something? Or pour a truth serum into his drink and ask him whether he sent the letter?"

Hermione scowled at Ron for a moment, appalled at his suggestions, then continued. "If we find out it isn't him, we proceed. If it is him doing this, then no doubt you and Harry can deal with him with a curse of some sort. But we mustn't let anyone know. The letter said not to."

Harry and Ron nodded in unison, causing Hermione to giggle a little.

The trolley-lady came up to their cabin at that point. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked in her usual polite and cheery manner. Harry bought everyone some refreshments for the rest of the trip to the magnificent castle that was truly his home. New for this year was Every-Flavour Drinks, drinks that change flavour with every sip, running through a myriad of tastes, from pumpkin juice to ear wax, and additionally, Harry noted, Harry Potter Pear Drops - the packet reading "Beats Voldemort Every Time!". He wasn't sure whether to be disgusted or honoured by them. He bought a bag, noting to speak to Professor Dumbledore, Hogwarts' headmaster, and the most powerful wizard in the world, about them later on.

***

The train pulled up in Hogsmeade Station, and all the students attending Hogwarts disbanded their carriages, the first years being ushered into a group by Hagrid, the Hogwarts Keeper of Keys and Grounds. After saying a few words of greeting to Hagrid, and arranging to meet him later in the week, Harry, Ron, and Hermione passed out into the Hogsmeade street where his transportation to the school was waiting for him. He boarded the second-to-front carriage, and after Ron had boarded, the pair each took one of Hermione's bags, pulling it on board, and then taking Hermione's hands and helping her aboard, much to her surprise and delight. They all settled down, for the final leg of the journey to the school.

***

The carriages that carried second-years and above to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from the train station in Hogsmeade pulled up outside the front entrance of the school, although no creatures could be seen or had been seen pulling these transports at any point during the journey.

Hundreds of students disembarked from the carriages and dragged their belongings into the front entrance of Hogwarts, from where these items would be distributed to the appropriate rooms later. Following this, the huge group headed up into the Great Hall at the top of the stairs, and divided into the four Houses of Hogwarts: Slytherin on the far left, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor in the middle, and Ravenclaw adorning the right of the expansive room.

The only three missing were Harry and Hermione, who had been intercepted by Professor McGonagall on entrance to the school and thus had accompanied her to her office, and Cho Chang, the Seeker of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Some of the new first years looked utterly frightened; some looked excited and some looked like Hermione had looked, thought Ron, a bit nervous but with some confidence too.

Professor Snape was conducting the ceremony this year, as McGonagall was talking to the two third-year students she had stopped on their entry to the Great Hall. Sighing in tedium, he called out the name of the next student to be Sorted.

"Tensenson, Samantha." He glared down at the first years, trying to identify the student whose name he had called. At first he could not get a fix on the girl, but eventually he saw someone push through the crowd of first years, step forward onto the raised platform at the front of the Great Hall and almost climb onto the chair upon which students were Sorted. Snape stepped forward also and placed the Sorting Hat on her head with another sigh. Samantha's head was adorned with fine blonde hair, which was so long that it hung a long way past the end of the Sorting Hat and down her back. The girl was obviously quite frightened, perhaps of the Sorting, perhaps of the imposing, greasy-haired Potions Master, or perhaps of the hundreds of pairs of eyes watching her intently from around the Hall; Snape noted how much Samantha was shaking as she waited for the Sorting Hat to speak.

Ron, who was watching the Ceremony intently, having missed the previous year's and having been the one being Sorted himself the year before that, hoped to himself that this young girl was not placed in Slytherin by the Hat; she would have to spend her time around the intimidating Draco Malfoy, and she seemed even more frightened of the school already than Hermione had been initially.

"Gryffindor!" The Sorting Hat made its decision, seeming to mirror the thoughts running through Ron's mind, and acting accordingly to help Samantha out. The girl climbed off of the stool and walked down to the Gryffindor table to applause from its occupants, which although intended as a nice gesture, only served to embarrass her. Ron indicated for her to come and sit with him; he had made sure he was seated next to the destination of the new first-year Gryffindors, so that he would have the best view and the ability to meet all the new arrivals straightaway and to personally welcome them to the House. She moved to place herself next to Ron, and after shaking hands with many Gryffindor students Ron addressed her.

"Hi. I'm Ron Weasley. Welcome to Gryffindor!" He smiled down at her. She was considerably smaller than him, the top of her head only just coming up to his shoulders. He offered her his hand. "What's your name?"

"Sam Tensenson," she replied with a little trepidation, her voice a little quiet, as she took his hand and shook it, sweat transferring from her palm to his, which Ron noted, and thus he tried to act in a more friendly and welcoming way than he usually would, to try and made her feel at ease with at least one member of the school.

"Let me tell you Sam, you're in the best house. Most friendly house there is, unlike that Slytherin. What's more, we've won the House Cup two years running, and we have the best Quidditch team there is, not to mention the best Seeker, I'm sure you'll have heard of him - Harry Potter." Ron tried to project an ambiance of friendship towards the much more anxious young Gryffindor, who seemed a little more comfortable now the school's eyes had turned towards the podium again.

"Harry Potter? I've wanted to meet him for a long time." Her voice was filled with inspiration on hearing the famous wizard's name. As a pure-blood, as Draco Malfoy would have designated her, she was well aware of Harry's defeat of Voldemort while he was just a baby, and was as fascinated by him as many other members of the magical community were. Indeed, on Harry's first arrival at The Leaky Cauldron, the bar, restaurant and hotel concealing the London entrance to Diagon Alley, many people had shaken his hand and greeted him with surprising (to the Harry of the time, anyway) friendship and respect.

Ron turned around at that instant, looking for his sister, whom he also wanted to introduce Samantha to, and saw Harry walking down the aisle between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables, heading towards Ron's position as quickly as he could. He didn't want to be accused of 'disturbing the ceremony' by Professor Snape and lose Gryffindor some points before term had even really started, so his pace was appropriately rapid. Ron turned back to face Samantha after nodding to Harry to indicate his location.

"Well you're in luck. Here he comes now."

Samantha flipped around to see Harry barely five metres away from her and closing the distance rapidly. She almost choked on seeing him so soon, but regained some composure before the completion of his journey up the aisle.

As Harry reached her and Ron, the latter addressed his friend.

"Harry, there's someone here I'd like you to meet."

Harry sat down on the opposite side of Samantha as Ron continued, "This is Sam Tensenson, our newest house member. She's been looking forward to meeting you."

Harry offered her his hand. She took it rather more nervously than she had any of the previous Gryffindors, and shook it slowly, sweating much more profusely than she had done previously.

"Hi Sam. I'm Harry. Harry Potter." He smiled widely at her.

"Hi Harry. I... I've always wanted to m-meet you," she managed, going cherry red, but smiling nevertheless at achieving one of her dreams.

Harry flashed his best smile back at her. "Well, I'm pleased to meet you too. Welcome to Gryffindor. It's the best house there is, the friendliest..."

Ron interrupted. "Err, Harry I've already given her the Gryffindor promotional speech."

Harry laughed quietly. "OK then, we'll skip that part. So Sam, if you don't mind me asking, are the rest of your family witches and wizards?"

Sam responded a little more confidently, now that she felt more at ease with these two, apparently friendly, people. "Yes, my family is all-magic. And my parents work in the Magical Discovery Corps. My father recently worked on a dig that discovered a lot of ancient magic. He showed me how to do something, I don't know if I can pull it off though; it's quite complicated, it takes a lot of concentration."

Harry and Ron encouraged her to try, and eventually, she took out her wand. Pointing it into the air, and concentrating as hard as she could on her intent of successfully implementing the spell, she called out:

"Inflamare spectrase!"

A small energy pulse shot into the air from the end of Sam's wand, and seemed to disappear in the air. But it expanded, and divided into smaller red sections that rocketed around the room for a couple of seconds, before they exploded like fireworks. The colours were wide and varied and the display was awe-inspiring. There were many exclamations of the sheer power of the blasts.

Professor Snape marched over to the table and was about to reprimand Samantha for, in his opinion, 'gross disruption of an important school ceremony', but Dumbledore saw his intent well before he'd started to move, and spoke.

"Professor Snape, I hardly think that will be necessary. The display was most impressive. It is also a demonstration of a very rare sort of Magic of the Light, a recently discovered type of magic used for ceremonies, appropriately enough."

Snape looked aghast at the order, and almost choked on his disgust, but reluctantly complied. He returned to the podium, scowling more intensely now.

Dumbledore continued. "In fact, I believe the girl should be rewarded, not only because she was brave enough to use such a powerful spell, but to have the courage to do it here, in front of all. I award twenty points to you, Samantha."

There was considerable applause and cheering from the Gryffindor table. Sam had made a good first impression on her house. She hadn't even started her academic work and she was scoring points for her fellow Gryffindors. Much like Hermione, Ron thought, and then sighed, as he recalled his earlier thoughts regarding his relationship with Hermione.

On the other side of the room however, Draco Malfoy, and his enormous goons Crabbe and Goyle, who, aside from their magical background, shared most of the characteristics with Harry's cousin Dudley Dursley, had also formed their opinions of this new Gryffindor.

"Seems that Potter and the Weasley have made a new friend. We'll have to give her a proper welcome to the school," he said to Crabbe and Goyle, and all three of them sniggered as Malfoy explained to them what they were going to do to the young Gryffindor, who continued to chatter to Ron and Harry, unaware of the plotting that was taking place on the opposite side of the Hall.

***

Hermione came in to the Great Hall a little later with Professor McGonagall with a small, hardly noticeable necklace around her neck, and joined her friends at the end of the table, sitting next to Harry. Although she had missed the Sorting Ceremony, she said hello to all the new members of Gryffindor House during the start-of-year feast. She still managed to eat a good deal in the time she had available. It was quite clear however, that she was still preoccupied by the events of the past couple of days. She let Harry and Ron know that she needed to speak to them after the feast, and proceeded as normally as she could hope to.

***

An hour or two later, after the puddings had been served, everyone except the first-years and the Prefects left the Great Hall to return to their dormitories. Harry, Hermione and Ron bade farewell to Samantha, who was feeling a little more confident now and had spoken to some of her first-year Gryffindor colleagues, but Ron nevertheless promised to introduce Sam to his sister Ginny the next morning, the idea of which Sam responded to with delight.

Harry, Hermione and Ron made their return to Gryffindor Tower ahead of the rest, Hermione having already been made aware of the new password for entrance to the tower via the Fat Lady's portrait.

"What are the new first years like then?" she asked them as they approached.

Ron nodded as he answered. "They're nice. We've not got as many as usual, but there's a really nice girl called Samantha. She's a bit nervous, but she's sweet."

Hermione added the password, and the Fat Lady allowed them to pass into the Common Room. Hermione noted to Harry and Ron that they'd discuss the letter further in the morning, and wished them sweet dreams, before giving both of them a hug.

"It's so good to be back," she said as she ascended the stairs to the girls' dorms with a big grin on her face.

Harry and Ron waved to her as she left, and then ascended the opposite column of stairs themselves, entering the dorm room designated for the third year boys.

"Well?" Ron demanded as they sat down on their beds.

"Well what?" asked Harry.

"Do you believe that letter?" he demanded impatiently.

"To be honest, Ron, I'm not sure," he related to his friend. "It seemed genuine, but then, why entrust it to a simple third year student? Why not ask Professor Dumbledore?"

"I don't know," said Ron, shaking his head. "On the joking side, Hermione wouldn't make up something like this. It's not like her. I reckon we should trust her judgement on this."

Harry nodded his agreement as he put on his pyjamas, and clambered into bed.

"I think so too. If anyone would know the answers to our questions, it's her."

Before long the remaining Gryffindors could be heard approaching, and as Ron finished getting changed, Harry was already in bed, in his pyjamas, and the curtains were being drawn.

"See you tomorrow, Ron. Sleep well."

"You too, Harry," he replied.

He drew the curtains around his bed.

***

Eventually, everyone had gone to their dormitories and had fallen onto, or had climbed into, their beds to sleep the night. Hermione was one of the last. She had just pulled the covers above her head when it happened.

She heard a deafeningly loud noise, and covered her ears to avoid damage to her eardrums. The noise shook the room, and Hermione's bed vibrated in the blast. Her head hit the headboard as the waves of sound passed through Gryffindor Tower.

She felt a massive shockwave...