Hermione Granger was a bit nervous. She had been tasked by a prefect of the school to help another student find his lost familiar. She thought that was a bit odd, especially since she didn't know anyone. Going into people's compartments and asking if they had seen a toad was a bit embarrassing for her, considering her bushy hair and her buck teeth. She had even bumped into a redheaded boy that was looking for someone wearing glasses.
She frowned at the question, since she hadn't seen anyone wearing glasses at all. Not on the train platform, not in any of the visits she had with her parents in the shops to buy her things, and definitely no one on the train. In fact, there seemed to be an inordinate amount of what she considered 'good looking people' in the wizarding world. It actually made her a little sad.
Hermione attributed it to having access to magic and she had been sorely tempted to buy some of the potions at Madam Primpernelle's herself when she and her parents had walked by the beauty shop. That really handsome boy's picture had almost convinced her mother that it was a good idea, and it wouldn't hurt to try at least one thing, then the prices were revealed and killed the flight of fancy.
With the gold conversion to galleons, her parents had already spent a lot of money to get her the essentials. The wand alone was seven galleons, or almost a hundred British pounds. A beauty potion that would only last for a week was three galleons. It wasn't worth the cost. The books... well, she went a little overboard with the books. It was all so interesting that she couldn't get enough of them and she had promised that she would pay her parents back for them.
Her parents had just smiled and paid the money for her to get what she wanted. They loved their daughter and knew that the only real thing that made her happy was books. Even though she was a very nice girl, she didn't have any friends and her personality was occasionally abrasive and hard to deal with sometimes. In their minds, they hoped that a new school would be just the thing for her to come out of her shell.
Hermione opened the next compartment without so much as a knock or a hello. “Has anyone seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one.”
“No.” An older boy spat at her and slammed the door shut. The glass cracked and a few people gasped.
“That was rude!” Hermione said in frustration and waved her wand at the broken window. “Reparo.”
The window was mended and she moved to the next compartment, then opened the door.
“Has anyone seen a toad? A boy...”
“You know, most people knock first.” A calm voice said. “Even when I was home where my family hates me, they still knocked on the door to my cupboard... I mean, bedroom.”
Hermione was a bit taken aback at the rebuff and stared at the handsome boy. “I was just... a prefect asked me...”
“They didn't ask you to be rude, surely.” A girl's voice said with a chuckle. “Then again, if they were from Slytherin...”
“I think it's against their rules to be nice to others.” Another boy said and then laughed. “No wonder everyone hates them.”
The handsome boy frowned slightly. “I don't understand why people do that.” He said. “Just because someone is smaller or weaker than you, why attack them?”
“Because they can.” The girl said. “There's not a lot going on upstairs, if you know what I mean.”
The handsome boy smiled and had to nod. That was definitely his experience.
“I'm sorry.” Hermione said, sincerely. She had been picked on a lot at her last school, so the last thing she wanted was to be seen as a bully or being mean. “I don't know why they asked me to help. I don't know anyone at all and this is all new to me and I've been halfway through the train already and I swear the toad must be invisible and...”
The three people in the compartment started laughing and Hermione's face flushed red from embarrassment.
“It's not funny!” Hermione spat. “I'm only a first year!”
“Me, too.” The handsome boy said.
“We weren't laughing at what you said, it was how you were saying it.” The girl said.
“Yeah, without breathing.” The boy said with a chuckle.
“I can hold my breath for almost a full minute.” The handsome boy said. “My cousin sat on me once.”
The three of them gave him surprised looks and he had to chuckle.
“I was lucky that he used a pillow.” The handsome boy said and made a gagging sound.
“He sat on your face! Ha hahaha!” The boy laughed. “Oh, the fat slimy git!”
“I still haven't cursed him yet.” The handsome boy said with a sigh. “I was too busy studying.”
“Studying?!?” Hermione asked loudly and stepped into the compartment. “I love studying!”
“No kidding?” The boy asked with a grin. “Harry, you finally found someone else who read their school books before school!”
“I am definitely not going to be a Hufflepuff like you.” Harry said with a grin.
“Oh, no!” The boy pretended to faint. “Harry won't follow in my footsteps.”
“That's because you have dragon dung on your shoes!” His sister said and they both laughed.
Hermione walked over to Harry's seat and sat down. “What was your favorite book?” She asked with a particular intensity in her eyes.
“Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling.” Harry said. “I wanted to say the Book of Spells Grade One, except that most of the spells have better versions in the second year book.”
Hermione gasped and covered her mouth. “You bought the next year's books, too?”
Harry shook his head. “Only the spell book.”
Hermione let out a sigh. “I thought... I had hoped that...”
“I bought all seven years of the spell books.” Harry said, guessing that was what she wanted to hear.
Hermione gasped again. “I didn't know you could buy them all!” She nearly yelled. “The man at the bookstore said I would have to check the library at the school for the other standard textbooks.”
“I didn't even think about asking for a library.” Harry said and almost slapped himself on the forehead for being so stupid, then remembered the cream covering his scar. “I just bought the books I wanted and...”
“Ooo! What ones?!?” Hermione asked, excitedly.
“I'd say she's definitely a Ravenclaw.” The girl said with a smile.
“I don't know.” Her brother said. “She has a terrible memory. She's totally forgotten that she's looking for a toad.”
“THE TOAD!” Hermione jumped up from the seat. “I need to keep looking!” She reached out for the door handle and felt someone take her hand. Her face flushed red for some reason and she turned around to look at the handsome boy.
“Do you know the frog's name?” Harry asked.
Hermione shook her head and her bushy hair shook from side to side.
“I doubt a summoning charm would work, unless we want a ton of toads to show up.” Harry let her hand go and then chuckled. “That might be fun to see, actually.”
“You can cast a summoning charm?” The girl asked, surprised. “That's a fourth year spell!”
“Madam Malkin gave me the idea when I was taking things from my trunk and I wanted to see if it would work.” Harry said. “It won't work unless I know what I'm summoning, though.”
“I can ask Neville.” Hermione said.
“We've got a few hours before we get to school.” The girl said. “We can have a bunch of people searching by then.”
“Hey, what would happen if two people tried to summon the frog at the same time?” Her brother asked. “Froggie bits everywhere!”
“Ugh!” The girl gagged. “Then that's not a good idea.”
“We should stick to the old fashioned way for now.” Harry said.
“We?” Hermione asked, surprised.
“Do you want a hand?” Harry asked.
Hermione wasn't sure why her blush returned and her hand twitched. “Yes.”
“Then let's go.” Harry said and the two of them left the compartment. With the two of them looking, they quickly tracked down the errant frog after half an hour and returned it to Neville.
“Thank you, Harry.” Hermione said, then she felt a little awkward. “Can I... would you mind showing me...”
“My books are in my trunk.” Harry said, accurately guessing what she wanted.
Hermione smiled a huge smile and her two front teeth jutted out. They walked down the hallway and a few people gave her the same looks that everyone at her old school gave her, so she closed her lips to hide her teeth.
“Why don't you shorten your teeth if you don't like them?” Harry asked.
Hermione took in a sharp breath and looked sheepishly at him. “My parents are dentists.” She said, then she remembered she wasn't talking to a normal person. “They are people that use muggle tools to work on people's teeth and...”
Harry laughed. “I know who dentists are.”
Hermione sighed in relief. “Are you a muggle born? I thought you were from a wizard family.”
“I'm both, I guess.” Harry said with a shrug. “My parents were a witch and a wizard; but, they died when I was a baby and I grew up with my muggle aunt and uncle.”
“Harry, I... I'm sorry.” Hermione said. “Losing your parents...”
“I didn't know them.” Harry said and shrugged again. “I always thought they died in a car crash. I didn't find out until recently that you-know-who killed them.”
Hermione gasped. “H-Harry! You're Harry Potter!”
“Ta-da!” Harry said and opened the compartment he was in before. “The one and only famous boy who lived.”
“Ha! I knew you couldn't resist telling her!” The girl's brother said when they stepped into the compartment.
“Tell me he didn't brag about it.” The girl said. “Be honest.”
“No, he... I just...” Hermione wasn't sure how to explain.
“She figured it out.” Harry said and took his trunk down from the rack, put it on the floor, then opened it.
“Blimey!” The girl's brother exclaimed. “Look at that!”
Harry ignored the shout and climbed down the ladder, then he told Hermione the titles of the books he had. “What one do you want?”
“Where There's A Wand There's A Way, please.” Hermione said.
Harry took it and the book Curses and Counter-Curses from the shelf and climbed up the ladder, handed her the book she wanted, and closed the trunk. He then took out his fancy timepiece.
“We've got three hours, ten minutes, and eighteen seconds until we get to the station.” Harry said and noticed everyone looking at him. “It's just a watch.” He said and tucked it away.
“That's like saying your trunk is just a trunk.” The girl said. “And you just climbed out of it.”
“Are you sure you didn't grow up in a magical household?” Hermione asked, because the things she had seen seemed like the things only rich families had.
“I'm positive.” Harry said and his face became a mix of both sadness and anger. “They are the biggest bullies I know and I know a lot of bullies.”
Hermione touched his hand and he looked at her. “I've been bullied a lot, too.”
Harry took a deep breath and let it out, then he motioned to the seat. They sat down and they both started to read.
It was the start of a friendship that the both of them would cherish for the rest of their lives.
I have a question about Hermione that I want to know, but there's no way to not be insensitive about it so here it goes. What race is she in this story?
????
She's white. No affirmative action will be forced on people here. There are black people in Harry Potter, and are described as so, so JK approving a black actress as Hermione for the play The Cursed Child (which was horrible and really stupid, by the way) was a slap in the face to Emma and all the work she did to bring the character to life.
No one would have stood by if they made Harry or Ron black, so why was Hermione being changed to black okay?
In my eyes, the one and only Hermione is Emma Watson. There is literally no one else in the world that could have played her so well. They had thousands of girls try out for the part and she rose to the top.
Edit: As far as I know, no young black girls were up for the part, either. I sincerely doubt they would ever admit that now, though.
This is just my opinion. I'm not being a bigot or racist. I'm only stating that making her black was unnecessary and didn't alter the story at all or bring anything to it. There was no point.
I could say the same about saying Dumbledore is gay after the fact. If she had told us at the beginning, everything Dumbledore did is seen as manipulating a young sexual object to do his bidding. That is not the image of the wise old wizard that I wanted in my head.
@Bokuboy The only thing that I will say about Dumbledore is that the original actor, who died, was better for the role. Life goes on and yet sometimes not =P. Yes, I'm insensitive and feel the same way about Hermoine. I wonder if Harry will befriend Ron because really Ron is a bit of a bully at times to Hermoine.
@Dipsy_Doodle Actually, in the books Ron and Hermione bicker a lot, but it's more like two really close friends that like to bicker. Ron was about the only guy in her class that would argue with her without taking it personally and hating her. That's why it was so tragic what the movies did to Ron. Still, without the external impetus of parents, etc., I'm not sure the three friends will be together in this story.
And Richard Harris was an absolutely awesome DD.
@Bokuboy Thank god she is Emma in here. You can't just put a different face in Hermione and make it work like it was before.
@Dipsy_Doodle, I was going to mention the original Dumbledore and that I still hear his voice when the other Dumbledore speaks. Especially when I read the books, it's his voice I hear.
@Gelcube, Thanks for reminding me of the actor's name. It was such a shame that they delayed filming of the third movie like they did, because we could have had his great performance for one more movie.
@caincrux, exactly! Why not introduce a new character tat's black and have Hermione her assistant that really runs everything? I would have been more fitting.
I never knew about Hermione being played by a black actress, so thanks for bringing this to my attention. The comments that followed were interesting, to say the least.
Now I am white, live in the UK and my Grandfather on my dad's side was Polish (from Poland, not the cleaning product).
Some of this equality crap goes too far. Now the idea itself isn't the problem it's the lengths people go to force it.
Now Doctor Who series, a show that frequently changed actor. Putting a woman as the lead role was just about acceptable solely because of the sort of show it was. It was fully possible to make a reason for the doctor to suddenly become a woman, or black, or Asian. Hell even something nonhuman could accepted with the right plot.
Then you get James Bond. Again something that has had lots of actors playing the lead role. By now it's become normal. What is not normal is the frequent talks I hear in recent years to change James Bond to a black actor, or even a woman. Now it is not because neither are capable of acting out that sort role but because James Bond is a white man with a penchant for violence, love of women and a drinking problem. You could simply make a film with female spy as the lead, or a black or Asian lead gender irrelevant.
Then you get the last remake of the Fantastic Four. Johnny Storm, Susan Storm's brother, is played by a black actor. I mean wtf they are brother and sister, so at least you would think they would make them both black but no. Now when they introduce themselves he can say 'he is her brother from another mother'.
Marvel is rather unique in how many timelines and universes there are. So I can accept a black spiderman, no reason not to. Same for spiderwoman or spidergirl no reason not to. Just give it a proper backstory and you're good. A big part of that is the time period it happens in, although racism will probably always exist to some degree, a black spiderman is possible.
On the other hand, if you changed Captain America to a black actor, I can only say you're an idiot. Unless the world it took part in had no racism it was impossible for it to happen. The time period of the war puts blacks as second class citizens at best, in no way would the Government accept to make a black man a symbol of hope and power even if they could have created dozens of super soldiers or hundreds like they probably originally planned.
All in all, it is generally a bad idea to change the race or gender of an established character (outside of fanfics of course). It is far more acceptable to just add new characters to make up what is lacking.
She is human just like in the original books? I don`t think she turns into a cat-woman until book 2.
@graygoose If you mean Hermione, it's a Polyjuice potion mistake that she makes while trying to find out who the real heir of Slytherin is.
Looks like not the cat race we used to know
@Bokuboy That comment you wrote was... hurtful. I feel needlessly so, and targeting an entire race of people. I am Black, and I don't think Hermione was. The disparaging comments toward Black people about "Affirmative action" were incredibly rude. And I want you understand. When you say things like that about affirmative action, you are in fact insulting Black people.
Have you looked up what affirmative action is, and that it outlaws preferential treatment of people by any race? Meaning under affirmative action, it is illegal to treat Black people preferentially. So you may wonder why you thought it was something else for so long. Well, look at the media you consume. Look at the people you listen to. Ask yourself what conclusions they are trying to get you to reach, and fact check before adding something to your belief system.
I would implore you to think about how you talk about race more. Affirmative action also offers those same rules for gender, so why don't you use it for gender as well? The fact is, this is a racist talking point that you are either knowingly or unknowingly using. So maybe reconsider your beliefs, talk to Black people who want to educate on this, and see for yourself why you are saying this.
This is less a criticism of what you are saying, and more a criticism about how you say it, and the beliefs you have that color your word choice.
ps. By reconsider your beliefs, I'm not talking about Hermione being Black. She was explicitly mentioned in the story as pale, and I think the possibility of her being Black is low. And I find it insulting that JK is trying to score points on inclusion and diversity without putting in any work beyond a tweet. And many other Black people agree with me. I'm talking about the language you use when talking about Black people. Look at the language you used when describing Dumbledore being gay. Conflating being gay with an interest in minors is troubling enough, as I don't think there was anything sexual between them. I'm honestly starting to be concerned about how you're going to write this story.
@kouk2002 Your very comment argues the point for a Black Captain America, so I don't see why not. Why can't there be universes within infinite universes that have no racism? Heck, in infinite universes there are likely also lots of universes where Black people were the colonizers, and white people were discriminated against and abused.
Also, Miles Morales has probably been around since before you were even that interested in the Marvel universe. He's a staple of the Marvel universe. It seems like you should be upset more by poor writing, and are instead taking it out on equality as a whole. The government making a Black man a symbol of hope and power during a time when Black people would feel the most powerless would actually be a good story. You are doing the opposite of what you intended, because now I want to see that.
@taso My comment about the play being horrible and stupid, would have been made no matter who the actors were. The story was some of the worst fanfiction on the market, and it's supposedly official canon.
I'm sorry if you thought I was referring to all black people. I wasn't. I only meant that changing characters in a story to another race, for absolutely no reason other than to say there was someone from that race in it, actually cheapens the point to ridiculous proportions.
Like in the bombed Fantastic Four reboot years ago when they made Johnny Storm a black teenager for no reason. It changed absolutely nothing about the story to have him be black. None. Then they made his father black and NOT his sister. They actually rewrote Susan's backstory to have her be adopted and kept her white, for no reason except that they wanted Susan Storm to be white. I personally thought if they had made her black as well, it would have been better. Mind you, that movie was a horrible mess and even the guy that made it claimed so.
About Albus Dumbledore... he was inordinately obsessed with a teenage boy. He controlled everything about Harry's life and ensured he was weak, pliable, and would sacrifice himself when it was time. That was bad enough, because he had been groomed his whole life. When it was revealed Albus was gay afterwards, it changed people's perceptions of his interest in Harry. It didn't matter if he was never sexually interested in the boy (even though the way he addressed him when Harry died and met Albus in the afterlife was succinctly warmer and personal than a detached mentor should have been), it's that he could have been and was in a supreme position of authority over Harry the entre time.
Oh, and Hermione was white. It's specifically stated in the book that her white face peered around a tree. I actually have no problem if Hermione was black, as long as it actually made a difference to do so. If it doesn't impact the story, her behavior, her family, or her interactions with others, what was the point to change the color of her skin?
Like I said before, this is only my opinion. Right or wrong, it is only an opinion, not a law, a way of thinking, set in stone, or anything of importance. At all. I also don't let my opinions change how I write, nor do I let opinions expressed in my writing to affect my own.
@Bokuboy Honestly, I wasn't expecting an apology, the last time I said something like this to an author, I was reported, and my account was deleted. I was gearing up to just seeing that I could no longer access my account. It's refreshing that this time it seems to be different.
And I understand your points. I would like to clarify again that it is more your word choice. Calling it affirmative action, and the tone with which it was said. This is an incredibly complex topic, and I don't trust my writing skills enough to convey the nuance that this topic needs. I am no James Baldwin. Far from it.
And to try to answer your question about what is the point about changing the race of a character. In my cynical view, it is Hollywood trying to score some diversity points. Why might Black people be excited by it? Because we can see actors we've seen growing up in a large role. Make no mistake, Black people are very aware they are being pandered to. But what's the other option? If the choice is between a good pandering, and nothing, then forgive us if we break out the bamboo. Yes, I'm proud of that joke, and I stand by it.
And I like your novel. I'm on chapter 66, which is okay, but 3 more chapters would've been nice.
@Bokuboy I mean Emma literally grew up as Hermione for more than a few years of her life. So I also couldn't think of anyone else taking up the role of Hermione.