- Charms -
After leaving Minerva's office, Harry caught up with the other first years making their way to Charms. Barely arriving on time, he listened as Professor Flitwick walked the class through the Lumos spell.
Showing Flitwick that he could cast the spell, and that he could do it silently and without the wand movements; Flitwick awarded him 20 points to Ravenclaw before asking him to help the other students.
Now, some people might have chosen to keep some of their skills hidden. But Harry didn't see much of the point of it right now. It wasn't like he knew any powerful spells and could match students several years above him. Most of those spells required farmore control over his magic than he had as a first year, and would most likely cause dangerous accidents if he wasn't careful.
And it wasn't for nothing either. By showing Minerva and Flitwick what he could do, he was getting access to better training.
For instance; after helping Padma get the spell to work, Flitwick had taken him aside and shown him how to manipulate Lumosin ways he hadn't thought of, or weren't mentioned in his textbook.
One way, was on how to get the spell to leave his wand and attach itself to a surface or float in the air; allowing him to cast other spells with his wand without having to turn off the light.
When Flitwick asked if Harry knew anything else, Harry demonstrated the Lumos Solem. Looking over the spell, Flitwick gave him a few pointers on how to increase the heat of the spell until it produced a burning effect, before awarding him a further 10 points.
- Timeskip: Lunch -
By the time Harry made it down to the Great Hall for lunch, the rest of the House had already learned about the 30 points he received in one class.
"Excellent work, Harry!" Penelope cheered from further up the table.
Harry noticed that after the first night's feast, Penelope made it a point to sit down with different people in the House at every meal. This time, she appeared to be sitting next to some of the Third Years.
Thanking her, Harry caught off guard when he was enveloped in a hug by Cho. "Way to go, Harry! We just heard what happened. 30 points in a single class, and as a First Year!"
Hugging her back, Harry spotted Marietta smiling at him as well. "Nice job, Harry."
Laughing, he replied. "Thanks Mary. And thank you too Cho." With a last squeeze, Cho let him go before sitting down.
After regaling them what happened, Harry asked about their own classes.
"Ugh, Defense was a pain! We're going to have to learn everything from our textbooks if Professor Quirrell keeps talking the whole class just to get through a single sentence." Cho whined.
Nodding, Marietta grouched, "And we've got Herbology after this. I hear we're going to learn how to plant Mandrakes this year."
Shuddering, Cho replied, "Gross! Those things are so creepy."
Patting her on the back, Harry silently consoled her. Wanting to take her mind off it, Cho asked what class he had next.
"Flying, I think."
"Have you ever flown before?" Marietta asks curiously.
Shaking his head, Harry told them, "Nope! Should be interesting."
Cho helpfully gave him several tips on how to grip the broom and where to focus his weight. "Be careful not to put too much weight on the back of the broom, or you're going to tip backwards and off it."
'Oh great.'
- Flying -
Their conversation on broom flying kept them going until Lunch ended.
Waying goodbye, Harry followed Penelope as they made their way out of the castle.
Going outside was like a breath of fresh air. It was a clear, breezy day, and the grass rippled under their feet as they walked down the sloping lawns toward a smooth, flat lawn. The Hufflepuffs were already there, gathered next to rows of about twenty broomsticks in neat lines on the ground.
Harry was grateful that Ravenclaw shared more classes with Hufflepuff than the others. They really were the friendliest bunch. After realizing how uncomfortable their staring was at his scar, many of them came over before the lesson to apologize. Most of their faces he didn't recognize, but he did recall Susan and her friend Hannah Abbott among the group.
Making her way towards them, their professor, an older witch named Madam Hooch, stood at one end of the rows of brooms. She had short, grey hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk, and wore robes similar to a Quidditch referees.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up!"
Harry stepped up to a broom beside Padma before glancing down at it. The thing was old and battered, and the end had several of its twigs sticking out at all angles. It looked more like kindling for a fire than a magical broomstick.
"Stick out your right hand over the broom," called Madam Hooch from the front, "and say 'Up!'"
"UP!" everyone shouted.
The broom quickly jumped into Harry's hand, smacking into his palm as he grasped it. Looking around, he saw that his was one of the only few that had moved. Padma's broom had rolled on the ground, while Terry Boot's had actually spun in a circle and was now facing the opposite direction. Susan was one of the lucky few to get hers on the first try, and her friend Hannah seemed to get it after a quick word from Susan.
Eventually, everyone had their brooms in hand. Madam Hooch then began to explain how they were meant to mount the broom, and after demonstrating it for the class, she motioned for everyone to try it as she walked up and down the rows correcting their grip.
"Now. When I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard!" said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, the lean forward slightly to touch back down."
As she blew the whistle, everyone kicked off the ground. Some were able to get their brooms to hover higher than others, but eventually all of them were able to get in the air.
As Padma's broom began to rise higher on its own, she started to panic. Harry quickly reached out his hand to grab hers, drawing her attention. Reminding her to lean forward slightly to get it come down, she began following his words and slowly lowered to the ground. Once her feet touched the grass, she immediately leapt off the broom.
Smiling shakily, Padma thanked him. "Thanks for that, Harry."
Stepping off his broom, Harry reached over and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. Feeling the slight tremble in it, he asks. "It's fine, Padma. Are you gonna be okay?"
Releasing a shaky breath, she nodded. "Yeah, I just really don't like heights."
By that point, the rest of the Ravenclaw girls had gotten off their brooms and made their way over to Padma. As the girls traded hugs and gave her their support, Harry moved back over to his broom and got back in the air.
Madam Hooch told anyone who didn't wish to continue, that they could talk amongst themselves as she led those still in the air through some simple flying exercises. To the outside observer, she looked like a mother duck leading a bunch of little baby chicks around.
Harry found himself liking the feeling of flying, but he preferred going slower on the broom than faster. 'I don't think I could handle Quidditch, considering how fast the players need to fly.'
The lesson went on for a short while before Madam Hooch eventually blew her whistle and called an end to the lesson.
Placing their brooms back in rows, the Ravenclaws waved goodbye to the Hufflepuffs before following Penelope towards their first lesson in History of Magic. Surprisingly, it was the only class they shared with Gryffindor.
- History of Magic -
Entering the classroom, Harry moved over to where Hermione was and took the seat next to her.
Turning to her, Harry introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Harry."
Nodding, Hermione greeted. "I know. I'm Hermione. I've read about you in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and of course Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century." She quickly rambled off multiple titles before seeming to realize what she was doing and quickly blushed. The sight was actually endearing to see.
Chuckling, Harry couldn't help himself. "Wow, you probably know more about me than I do at this point."
Stuttering, Hermione tried to apologize but Harry waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I'm not upset. Just thought I'd tease you…I hope I didn't overstep my bounds."
Shaking her head, she let out a sigh. "No, no. You didn't, I'm just…not used to people joking with me."
Well, that was depressing. Trying to lighten the mood, Harry offered. "In that case, I hope you don't mind if I keep doing it. You're welcome to do it back to me too, of course."
That seemed to bring a smile to her face. "I'd like that. I just hope my jokes aren't too advanced for you." The teasing grin she gave made with her first horrible attempt had Harry burst out into laughter. "Hahaha! I think we're gonna get along just fine, you and I."
The two quickly settled down as the professor floated into the room. 'The fact that this guy actually fell asleep one night, died, then got back up the next morning to continue teaching…that's either some serious dedication, or he's just lazy.'
As the professor, a ghost named Binns, proceeded to take roll before droning on about the first goblin rebellion, Harry took a quick look in his book. Realizing that the ghost was actually just saying word for word what was written in the book, Harry sullenly dropped his head as he thought. 'He's just lazy.'
Instead of listening to Binns drone on and trying to keep from falling asleep, like the rest of the class seemed to do, Harry focused instead on jotting notes down from the book. Hermione noticed Harry wasn't paying attention to the professor and tried to get him to focus. Instead, he simply pointed down at the page in his book before pointing at Binns.
Confused, Hermione opened her book to the page he pointed at. Wide eyed, she seemed to come to the same realization he had before turning to look at him.
At his shrug, Hermione let a defeated sigh. Following his example, she began jotting her own notes down while reading through the book.
- Timeskip: End of Class -
By the time the class had ended, Hermione and Harry had made their way through almost half of the book. They had both already read it through over the summer, so for them it was more revision than anything else.
As they gathered up their things, Harry spoke up. "Hey Hermione, I'm thinking of heading to the Library to get my homework done. Want to join me?"
Nodding happily, Hermione agreed.
The two made their way to the Library with Hermione directing him. Apparently, she had already memorized the entire route to and from the Library when she visited it their first break the day before. Luckily for Harry, because he had no idea how to get there.
They found a quiet spot at one of the tables in the back of the Library and got working on their homework. After finishing an assignment, they would ask the other to take a look at it and give any comments on changes or improvements they could make. Hermione quickly found herself surprised at how much Harry knew, and was glad to finally have an intellectual pier that she could converse with on a near equal level.
Harry, though, realized very early that for all of his reading ahead over the summer, Hermione was proving to be a step above him. The girl seemed to have a knack for understanding the intricacies of magical theory that went beyond anything he currently understood.
- Great Hall -
They spent the rest of their study hall in the library together until it was time to head down for dinner. Reaching the Great Hall, they made plans to meet up after History once a week and review their notes and homework together before going to their own tables.
Cheerfully waving goodbye to Hermione, Harry made his way over to the Ravenclaw table where Cho and Marietta seemed to be looking for him.
As he sat down next to Marietta, Cho asked. "Where have you been? We didn't see you after last period?"
Reaching over to pile on food onto his plate, Harry explained. "I went with Hermione from Gryffindor down to the Library to review our notes for History. I can't believe that Professor Binns reads straight from the book."
Laughing, Cho replied. "Yeah, it usually takes people until the last few weeks of their First Year to realize that. It's why most use the class to nap or get other classwork done. Still, I'm glad to see you're making friends outside of Ravenclaw."
Marietta pipped up with a warning, "Just make sure not to cause any problems in History. Binns won't care if you fall asleep or work on other homework, but if you start making noise he'll give you a detention. Just ask Cho here." Pointing at Cho, Harry saw she had gone pink at the memory. Scrambling, she tried to explain herself.
"It was the first week of last year. We just found out the same thing you did and I tried to protest…I, may have gotten carried away." She sheepishly remarked at the end.
Chuckling, Marietta added, "She stormed up to the Professor and demanded he say something other than what was written in the books. He took one look at her, said 'Detention', and then went right back to reading from the book."
That had them all laughing, even Cho who was a good sport and showed that she could laugh at herself.
The first day may have been terrible, but this one wasn't so bad.
Looking at Cho and Marietta's laughing faces, Harry thought, 'Yeah, it's not so bad at all.'
- Timeskip: Several Weeks Later -
As the weeks started to go by, Harry got into a comfortable routine. Every morning he'd get ready and check to see the progress on his body before heading down to breakfast.
By this point, his body had filled out very nicely and he looked like a healthy kid his age. He even grew a few subtle inches!
Sure, he wasn't the tallest in his year; but now he was firmly in the upper half. Thankfully, his clothes all came with charms that would grow with him for the next few years, so he didn't need to order new ones.
Maintaining his new diet turned out to be a simple thing once he figured out how to ask the House Elves for different food. He stopped drinking pumpkin juice all together and stuck to drinking water. He also made sure to eat healthier meals of rice, chicken, and salads. With the odd helping of chocolate for dessert every once in a while.
And, he finally figured out a way to get some exercise in. The Room of Requirement.
Returning from his Sunday training with Minerva, Harry decided to go for a walk and ended up back on the seventh floor. Heading over to the Room, he asked for 'A place where I can exercise.'
A door opened up in front of him, and he stepped inside to find that it had become a small workout room.
The room couldn't grow very large, so it had made a running track along the perimeter for him to run laps on. The middle of the room had become filled with grass, and included several small weights for him to use.
Looking up, he saw that the ceiling had turned into a reflection of the sky outside, showing white clouds on a blue backdrop with a sun shining in a corner of the room. A large, old-fashioned clock rested on the grass, keeping him aware of the time.
There weren't any workout machines; as the Room could only use what was kept in Hogwarts, but it more than served his purposes.
Between exercising, training with Minerva, doing homework, and spending as much free time as possible with Cho and Marietta; Harry quickly found his days filling up, with not a lot of free time in them.
One of the few moments of peace he gave himself, were the Quidditch games starting up.
To his and Marietta's joy, Cho made the Ravenclaw team as their new Seeker. When they had the time, they would go down to the Quidditch Pitch and watch her practice while doing their homework. Cho turned out to be a fairly decent seeker too, which made it all the more enjoyable for them to watch.
When the Quidditch season started, the games were just as intense as Harry thought they'd be. Everything was fast paced, and nearly every game ended with someone getting injured. One game in particular against Slytherin saw Cho receive a nasty hit from a Bludger that broke one of her ribs. Seeing Cho get hit like that, had him terrified for the first time he could remember.
Ravenclaw was joyfully still able to pull through for the win; and after a visit to the Hospital Wing and potion from Madame Pomfrey, the school Healer, Cho was back to normal by the time dinner rolled around.
- Timeskip: Halloween -
It wasn't until Halloween arrived that Harry's routine was interrupted.
That afternoon, he heard from Padma that her sister Parvati told her about Ron bullying Hermione after their Charm's lesson, and that she had gone to cry in the girl's lavatory.
That made him freeze for a second, knowing and fearing what was to come.
Making his way to the girl's lavatory, he tried to get to her before dinner but she refused to leave the bathroom, and he couldn't exactly tell her what was going to happen. She never would believe it anyways, still thinking that Hogwarts was the safest place in the world like the rest of the students. 'Maybe I'll get lucky, and things will have changed enough for it not to happen?'
It was a fools hope at best, but that was all he had at this point.
Reluctantly, Harry made his way down to the Great Hall for dinner. If the situation with Hermione wasn't bad enough, he was reminded that Halloween was the anniversary of his parents' murder and the night that he was sent to the Dursleys.
He was grateful that Cho and Marietta were understanding when he explained why he wasn't feeling very celebratory. Marietta even reached over to give him a rare hug at that.
It was unfortunate that he wasn't feeling in the mood, because the Great Hall was amazingly decorated for the evening.
Thousands of conjured bats fluttered across the ceiling, swooping over the tables like black clouds while carved pumpkins floated over the students' heads. The lights from the candles inside them flickering every time a group of bats would fly past.
All too soon, the sound of the doors being slammed open garnered everyone's attention.
They all watched as Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, his turban askew and his faced filled with terror. If Harry didn't know it was all a performance, he would have believed the man actually was terrified. "TROOOLL, IN THE DUNGEON! TROOOOLLL IN THE DUNGEON!"
Reaching the head table, Professor Quirrell stopped in front of Headmaster Dumbledore, panting.
"Troll," he gasped, "- in the dungeon - thought you ought to know."
With that, he sank to the floor in a dead feint.
As the hall exploded into an uproar, Harry kept his attention on Quirrell.
'I give it a 7 out of 10.'
The performance was actually pretty good, but Harry refused to give him too much credit.
After all, had people not been panicking, they would have noticed that Quirrell had fainted in the wrong direction. Most people who feint while standing up, land on their back; whereas Quirrell practically dove face first to the ground.
'Then again, Voldemort probably wouldn't have been too happy to have his tumor-face flattened against the ground.' The thought and imagery made Harry chuckle for a moment.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
The sound of several firecrackers exploding from Dumbledore's wand finally got the students to quiet down.
"Prefects," he rumbled, "lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
At his word, the prefects quickly flew into action.
"Follow me! Stick together now, first years!" Penelope waved them over as they began leaving the hall in droves.
Harry slowly lagged behind the group, until he saw his chance and was able to slip away. Once in the clear, he sprinted towards the girl's bathroom.
As he came closer, he could smell a foul stench in the air. A mixture of old socks and, what could only be described as a public toilet that had never been cleaned. Hearing low grunting and the should of gigantic footfalls, Harry got closer to his destination.
At the end of the hall, Harry finally spotted the troll. Twelve feet tall, it's skin a dull granite color, and a lumpy body like boulders stacked together. In its had was a huge wooden club that dragged along the floor.
Dread filled him as the troll made its way through the door leading into the girl's bathroom.
As he ran to the door, he heard Hermione's high-pitched screaming.
Racing inside, Harry spotted her cowering against the wall opposite him, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll slowly lumbered over to her, raising its club in preparation to squash her with it.
His heart racing, Harry called out to her. "Hermione! Close your eyes!"
The shout alerted both of them, and Hermione acted on instinct and followed the command. The troll however, turned to see what had made the noise. As its beady eyes looked down at him, blinking stupidly, Harry took his chance.
Pointing his ebony wand at the troll's face, he shut his eyes as he called out. "Lumos MAXIMA!"
A bright white light flooded the small bathroom. The troll reared back, roaring in agony as it became temporarily blinded.
Opening his eyes, Harry called out to Hermione again. "Hermione! Over here, quick!"
Thankfully, she still seemed to instinctually follow his orders as she raced past the troll to his side. Not waiting a second, the two of them sprinted out of the bathroom and down the hallway.
Behind them, the troll roared again as its eyes finally cleared and noticed them fleeing. Chasing after them, it's massive steps nearly shook the stone walls as it lumbered.
For something that large, the troll's longer legs made it surprisingly fast. It wasn't long before it seemed to be gaining on them.
Nearing the end of the hall, Harry felt a sudden elation fill him when, from around the corner, Minerva and several professors came hurrying towards them. The trolls yelling and loud footsteps having drawn their attention.
As Minerva raced ahead of the group, she spotted Harry and Hermione being chased by the troll. Reaching her, Minerva's protective instincts took over as she motioned them to get behind her, before swiping her wand at the troll.
From the walls, several of the stone statues depicting armored knights sprung to life. Immediately, they began swinging at the troll, their stone weapons piercing its legs as the troll crashed to the floor in agony; it's fall shaking the very ground.
In moments, one of the statues pierced its neck, killing the troll.
The danger passed; Minerva rounded on them.
Harry had never seen her so angry before, not even at the Dursleys. Though, he could see in her eyes that it was an anger backed by genuine worry for them.
"What, on earth were you two thinking?" Her tone filled with fury and concern.
Behind her, Harry saw Professor's Flitwick and Sprout had been the other teachers with her. Their faces also lined with worry.
Before Harry could respond, Hermione spoke up in a soft voice. "Please, Professor. Don't be mad at him. He was only trying to help me."
At her words, the professors focused their attention on her. Minerva asked, "What do you mean, Miss Granger?" Her tone had gone gentle at noticing the girl's shaking.
"I-I went-" before she could make up her lie, Harry interrupted her. "She was being bullied, Professor."
That caused the professors to blink.
"Bullied?" Minerva asked.
Nodding, Harry elaborated. "She was being bullied by another student, and had been in the bathroom crying during the feast. I tried to get her to come, but she was too upset." Glancing at Hermione, he continued on. "When I heard about the troll being in the dungeons, I worried that she might not know and could be in danger. I ran as quick as I could, but the troll was already there."
Looking at Harry for a moment, Minerva spoke to Hermione. "Is this true, Miss Granger?"
Meekly, she nodded.
"And who was it that has been bullying you?"
Pausing, she reluctantly admitted. "Ron Weasley, Professor."
At the name, Minerva's lips thinned in anger. Deciding it was best to focus on more important things for the moment, she replied. "Very well. In that case, Filius." Flitwick perked up at his name being said. "Please see Mr. Potter back to his dormitory. I shall be taking Miss Granger to the Hospital Wing to be looked at."
Turning to Professor Sprout, she asked. "Pomona, if you would be so kind as to watch over the troll for the moment, I shall return after placing Miss Granger in Madam Pomfrey's care."
The other Heads of House nodded and quickly moved to follow her orders.
As Harry and Flitwick made their way up the steps towards the Ravenclaw Common Room, Flitwick spoke up. "Well done, lad."
Eyes wide, Harry looked at him in surprise. Flitwick burst out in laughter at his look. "Oh, come now, Harry. Did you think I would be mad at you? No, no. That's more Minerva's thing."
Continuing to chuckle, he said. "I'm proud of you. Not many adult witches or wizards would risk facing a troll to help another. To do so as a first-year student is remarkable. Tell me, how did you get away from it?"
"Well…"
Harry began filling his Head of House in on everything that happened as they walked back to the common room. By the time they reached the bronze eagle, Flitwick was practically bursting with pride. "That was remarkably quick thinking, lad. I say, you might even have a talent for dueling in a few years. Well done."
Stroking his chin for moment, he seemed to ponder something. "I believe this calls for a reward, don't you agree? Shall we say, 50 points to Ravenclaw?"
At his stare, Flitwick laughed merrily before waving his wand at the door. Without needing to answer a riddle, the door swung open. "Benefits of being the Head of House. Now, I believe you have some friends who are worried about you."
Motioning him into the room, Harry dreaded how Cho was going to respond when she found out what happened.
So it came as a surprise when it wasn't Cho, but Marietta, who raced up to him before squeezing him in a tight hug. "There you are!"
Finally pulling back, Harry stared wide-eyed as Marietta began scolding him. "We were worried about you! When no one could find you, we were afraid something had happened! Where did you go?"
Before he could explain, Cho pulled him into a hug of her own, nearly squeezing the breath from his lungs. Letting him go, the girls waited for him to catch his breath before speaking up.
"I went to look for Hermione." He began. "I heard she was being bullied, and was in the lavatory crying. When Quirrell said there was a troll loose, I tried to warn her, but the troll was already there."
For the next several minutes, Harry replayed the events of what happened. By the time he was finished, Cho and Marietta were staring at him in shock. Reaching over, Cho pulled him back into a hug which was soon joined by Marietta. "You stupid, brave boy. Don't scare us like that again, okay?"
Silently nodding, Harry relaxed in their embrace as the last bits of adrenaline began to fade.
By the time they pulled back from the hug, he was about ready to fall asleep. The amount of magic he had used in that one spell was more than he had ever used for it before, and that was even after a full day of classes.
Seeing his slowly drooping eyes, the girls quickly helped him up to his dorm. Waving off the other boy's confused faces, Cho and Marietta helped him into bed before wishing him good night.
Harry was barely able to mumble out a "Good night." before he was fast asleep.
- Timeskip: Three Days Later -
The following days saw Cho and Marietta watching his every move. It seemed that they both thought if he was out of their sight for too long, he would off hunting other trolls to fight.
While it was a little much, the fact that Marietta finally seemed to get over her reluctance to touch him was a welcome change. She had taken to messing with him by ruffling his hair every chance she got, and would tease him when he tried to fix it.
Three days after Halloween, Harry finally saw Hermione again.
She was waiting for him outside the Great Hall as they made their way down to breakfast. Curiously, she not in her school uniform, and instead was wearing a long skirt and sweater.
Spotting Harry making his way over to her, she asked to speak to him alone.
Waving Cho and Marietta into the hall, he followed Hermione off to a hallway on the side, where a window looked out over the grounds.
Harry watched as she looked out the window, appearing to take in everything. "How are you holding up, Hermione?"
Turning back to him, she replied. "I'm…doing okay. Madam Pomfrey gave me a clean bill of health."
"That's good!" Harry was relieved to hear that, he had worried that she might have been hurt and he hadn't noticed it when she didn't show up for the classes the next day.
Nodding silently, Hermione seemed to struggle with her next words. "After…after I told Professor McGonagall about the bullying, she sent a letter to my parents."
"They showed up yesterday, and…" her voice trailed off.
Harry softly urged her to continue. "And what?"
Taking a deep breath, she pressed on. "And I told them about what happened. About the troll, and the bullying. I couldn't keep it from them, not about something this important."
"What did they say?" he asked.
"They asked if I wanted to be transferred out of Hogwarts. They…they really wanted me to say yes, but they didn't want to make the decision for me." He could hear the fondness in her tone. He was internally grateful that Hermione had such supportive parents, willing to back her decision even though they must have been terrified.
"I want to stay, but…I couldn't do that to them. Not after how much they've done for me. After they've been so supportive of me entering the magical world, despite how strange it all seems to them." She expressed, her love and gratitude towards her parents clear in her tone.
"So," Harry asked. "What happened?"
"I…I decided I'm going to transfer to Beauxbatons in France. I already know how to speak French. My parents and I take a trip every summer to Dijon, and we have a house there."
That made him pause. "Oh."
"…yeah."
They stood there quietly, neither sure how to continue.
Finally, Harry asked, "When do you leave?"
"Today, Professor McGonagall sent a letter to the Headmistress at Beauxbatons, and I got my acceptance letter this morning. My parents are waiting for me in Professor McGonagall's office."
That stunned him. "Wow…so soon."
Shyly, she nodded. "Yeah. I wanted to at least say good bye to you before I left. They told me to take as long as I needed. " Stepping forward, she quickly drew him into a hug.
As he wrapped his arms around her, Hermione said softly in his ear. "Thank you, Harry, for everything. For being my friend, and for coming to save me."
Smiling softly, Harry replied. "You're welcome, Hermione. You know I'd do anything for my friends."
That brought a radiant smile on her face as she pulled back. One they stepped back; Harry continued. "Make sure to send me a letter after you get settled in your new school, okay? I'll want to hear all about it."
Giggling, Hermione nodded. "I will. Goodbye, Harry."
"Bye, Hermione."
Walking up the steps towards Minerva's office, she turned around to wave at him. Waving back, he watched as she disappeared down a hallway.
Heading back to the Great Hall, he sat down next to Cho and Marietta.
Noticing his face, Cho pumped his shoulder. "Hey…you okay?"
"Yeah," he nodded, giving a soft smile. "Yeah, I think I'll be okay."