The library

Chapter 2

Good evening ladies and gentlemen."

Albus Dumbledore

"I'd like to begin by welcoming you all this fine Friday evening.." the old wizard paused momentarily, waiting for a handful of Slytherin students to cease muttering to each other.
"...as I was saying" he continued "I'm sure all of you are aware of your upcoming exams" a wave of disappointed exclamations rippled across the hall, aside from Hermione of course who smiled to herself. She loved exams.

The protests died down and the headmaster continued;
"The fifth years will be sitting their OWLS in the next few weeks, therefore they will have priority in the library when it comes to designated study time" now Hermione was the disappointed one.
"Fourth and sixth years, you may have second priority as your exams will be following shortly after the Halloween break" the old wizard continued on about various other academic events whilst Hermione proceeded to tune him out.

She allowed her eyes to wander around the room, floating from table to table until finally she ended up looking back at the teachers, not the headmaster however.
One of her favourite teachers, the gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid, sat twiddling a dainty cake fork between his giant fingers whilst glaring adoringly at the man speaking. Sat closely beside him, Professor Snape ran his shoulder length black hair through his fingers whilst staring into an abyss of nothingness.
He often had a very vacant look about him although the young witch was yet to figure out why, it didn't hugely concern her however she hated unsolved mysteries. Hermione paused in thought momentarily, then continued to process her teachers for this year.

A few weeks into her sixth year, she had switched from potions to defence against the dark arts. She was more than capable of taking both subjects however she though DADA was a much more useful lesson when it came to life outside of school. Professor Snape had taught her well when it came to potions, considering he viewed her as an 'insufferable know-it-all', he still respected her talent and dedication for the topic and was disappointed to say the least when she dropped out to take DADA.

Hermione had only ever been taught by Professor Black for DADA in her third year as Professor Lupin allowed her to join another class in order for her to fit in more lessons. She was incredibly well respected and somewhat revered teacher, she almost never made appearances outside of lesson time or detention so seeing her at dinner was a rare sight. She was notorious for discipline when it came to even the slightest act of misbehaviour; Hermione had never been in trouble with any teacher, let alone Professor Black, and was in no rush to do so. This being said, the near terrorising of students seemed to have an effect, as it was the class in which the best results were produced and the most successful and formidable witches and wizards were forged. Yet another reason the young witch had decided to opt out of potions.

"'Mione!" Ginny whispered harshly under her breath. Hermione snapped out of her daydream and looked, somewhat irritated, to her friend; "What?!"

Ginny gestured to Professor Flitwick who had just fallen backwards off of his stall. The hall erupted with laughter as a slightly embarrassed Professor gathered himself and climbed back up to sit beside his fellow teachers who were clearly holding back a few snickers. All except one; Professor Bellatrix Black.
She remained gazing at one hand, carefully examining each of her elegant black nails as if this little fiasco was entirely beneath her. She leant her head on her other hand, it was almost as if it had gotten lost somewhere in her endless dark curls; half of which had been pinned up, the rest fell down to her waist. Hermione couldn't help but admire the older witch as she too struggled to understand what was so amusing about the small man's mortification.

"Now that's enough of that ladies and gentlemen." The headmaster had interrupted the mass of conversations, undoubtedly concerning Professor Flitwick, with a stern and distinctively elevated tone. Everyone immediately returned their attention to the old wizard as he proceeded. With a casual gesture of his hand, a great feast appeared on the tables in front of the students.
"Bon appétit". The old man returned to his seat between Professors McGonagall and Burbage. He rubbed his temple with his hands as the hall resumed its uproar of conversations.

"My god you need to slow down!" Ginny exclaimed as she watched her brother in horror- he was shovelling whole sausages into his mouth, gulping down pumpkin juice in between.
"I'm 'ungry" Ron spat as he continued to consume almost the entire plate. The girls decided to ignore him for the remainder of dinner and found themselves engaged in their own little conversation, predominantly about Ginny's first exam next week which Hermione was helping her prepare for.

***

Once the majority of students had made their way out of the hall, the group stood up and began heading back to the Gryffindor Common room. The girls and boys parted ways and went to change out of their robes.

They returned to the sofa where they gathered in front of the now roaring fire. Rain was hammering against the windows whilst the group sat in silence for what felt like hours, dwelling in thought.

"Well if we're all just going to sit here I think I'll be going to bed." Harry bade them all goodnight and made his way back upstairs.
"How are you feeling about the match tomorrow?" Hermione asked Ron. He looked at her nervously before replying;
"Not too bad, I've been getting out and doing a bit of practise with Ginny." He looked away shyly and hid his face in a mug of hot chocolate.
"What about you?" She turned to Ginny.
"I told you at dinner remember," the younger girl rolled her eyes and readjusted the blanket she was under.
"Oh yeah" Hermione couldn't remember much about dinner as she spent most of it daydreaming about the afternoon she spent library, amongst other things.

Ron finished his drink and headed upstairs to bed. The two girls sat for a moment in silence, curled up on the sofa. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, Ginny spoke quietly,
"Are you excited about your first DADA lesson on Monday?"
Hermione eyes fluttered open slightly as she perked up at the question.
"Please.." she scoffed ".. Professor Black is legendary, she's an amazing teacher and sets us loads of work!" She looked at Ginny who smirked.
"I didn't ask you about Professor Black" Hermione furrowed her brow.
"I asked you about DADA." She blushed slightly as the younger witch turned to look at the fire.

"Well I'm looking forward to it either way" she replying confidently whilst kicking herself inside. She couldn't deny it, she was far too excited to study under who she thought to be the most formidable witch at Hogwarts- there was just something so mysterious about her that intrigued Hermione.