The Diary of Hermione Granger Revisited

First Day of Classes

September 2, 1991

Dear Diary,

Today is my very first day of classes! I've been yearning for this day for months, and now it's finally here!

I have Potions first, with the Slytherins in Professor Snape's class, but in Fred and George's words -who I found out were Ron's brothers, but are as I expected, not very well-mannered, "Professor Snape is a withered, year-old piece of dung that got stuck up You-Know-Who's bum for too long." Nasty!

Well, anyway, I'm on my way to Potions with Harry and Ron, but it's just rather gloomy down here in the dank dungeons of Hogwarts.

I guess I was mistaken; Hogwarts isn't absolutely perfect.

There is some aspect of beauty down in the dungeons though, the feeling of solitude and loneliness in a way reflecting the setting to portray art, but that's just a way to try to bring grace to such things.

Well, anyway, class is about to begin, so regrettably, I must put this diary down.

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Oh my goodness! Fred and George weren't kidding when they said that Snape was mean!

He deliberately called on poor Harry just to prove to the class that fame wasn't everything, but how could anyone expect poor Harry to know anything about the Wizarding world when he only just got out of the evil clutches of his adoptive family -the Dursley's?

Harry has also never even mentioned being "famous" and in all honesty, he actually seems to not want to talk about his experience with the Dark Lord at all, whether it is because he doesn't remember anything, or due to the fact that he lost his family that day and presumably, that is a very touchy subject for him.

Well nonetheless, I was trying to help Harry answer those questions while also putting an impression on my professor when he told me to sit down and just continued to drill Harry with questions!

Embarrassed, I put my hand down and looked around the classroom to find Malfoy looking between Harry and I with that insufferable little smirk that makes me want to hex myself into oblivion!

I turned back to the lesson, but not before giving him the evil eye, leaving a falter in his renowned smirk.

After Potions -which was dreadfully long, seeing as how it was a Double Potions day- we came to the conclusion that Malfoy was Snape's favorite student, not only because there was very obvious favouritism what with him personally calling Malfoy up for what great things his father has done for the ministry, but because they were so alike!

The stuck-up attitude, their obvious bias for Slytherin, their hate for the Weasley family, the way they think they are above everybody due to the mere fact that they are Slytherin's? They might as well be family!

We are finally approaching Professor Flitwick's classroom -the Charms classroom- which I had been very excited about all day!

Seeing as how it is only the first day of lessons, Professor Flitwick decided to teach us a simple levitation spell that I had already practiced during the summer, so I was of course, the first to demonstrate the spell while Ron, who sat next to me was having an unusual amount of trouble levitating his feather.

"No. No. No. It's Wingardium Levi-O-sa, not Wingardium Levio-sAH." I say, fixing his pronunciation. "It's swish and flick!"

Ron just looks at me, anger and jealousy written all over his face as he slouches down in his seat.

Smiling at Ron, I hear a loud boom sound from the seats adjacent us.

Seamus Finnegan had blown up his feather, a cloud of smoke and soot shooting this way and that, even spreading enough to hit Ron in the face.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Not at Seamus directly of course, but at Ron and Harry's bad luck. Even having only known them for 2 days, I can already tell that befriending these boys would only be asking for trouble, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, I still decide to hang out with them.

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I exit Charms and I am walking quickly down the hallway when I run into something.

This "thing" catches me.  Unfortunately though, this "thing" also just happens to be Draco Malfoy.

He drops me "Ew, I've got mudblood all over me!" he screams.  "Look at what you've done Granger!  You've gotten your disgusting, Muggle filth on me!".

I give him a death glare.  He picks me up off of the floor and lifts me up onto the wall. 

It really is interesting how these things can go sometimes.  Like the Butterfly Effect, everything is a cause and effect of something else.  I glare at him, he administers force and threatens me.  Though not always inevitable, the way people go about doing even the smallest things can result in the oddest things.  Really, how interesting.

For example, if I were to kick him in the shin, he would probably just return the gesture by slamming my head against the wall again, but what if I were to spit in his face?  Use him to practice my spells?  What would happen then? 

Since it was getting a bit hard to breathe at this point, I decided that there was only one way to find out.

I slip my wand out of my robes and practice one of the simplest spells right there.

"Expelliarmus."  I choked out.

Since my voice and thought process was strained due to the lack of oxygen coming to my brain, it only resulted in him stumbling away, but yet, it was effective.
I dropped to my knees to gather myself when Malfoy got back up and punched me in the stomach.

I began to fall, when he grabbed me by the collar and once again shoved me against the quiet corridor wall.

"You know, I don't much appreciate the way you glared at me in Potions this morning.  Why do you, a repulsive Muggle-born, think you even have the right to look at me, much less look at me with hate.  I think I ought to teach you a lesson." He says to me with a maniacal glint in his sharp silver eyes.

"Oh really?  And what exactly are you going to do to me?  You do know that I could show any one of the professors the damage you inflicted and get you into trouble?  Now, I doubt that is something you would want your father to hear about.  Correct?"

He just glared at me with his mouth the ever slightest bit open, showing that he didn't think his threat through.

"Just know you're place, mudblood." He spat at me with all the hate he could muster.

He stomped off haughtily as he turned the corner, careful not to look back at me.

Once I knew he was completely out of detection, I drop to the ground and let one small sob escape me before picking myself up again and leaving the dark corridor, hasty to get back to the safety of my friends; Harry and Ron.