"Looking Ahead", Hermione Granger, G
Aug. 2nd, 2006 05:53 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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femgenficathonTitle: Looking Ahead
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cinnamon_sakaki
Rating: G
Fandom: Harry Potter
Warnings: None
Prompt: Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads.
–Erica Jong
Summary: A look at Hermione's time at school before leaving the Muggle world for Hogwarts. (Note to people who don't have it: the eleven plus is an exam taken at eleven to determine whether you get into grammar school.) Thanks to Asuri at Perfect Imagination for the beta.
Hermione didn’t have many friends at school. It didn’t matter to her most of the time, because she liked to stay inside during playtime and read, but sometimes it was a bit upsetting.
One time, some of the other girls were playing Families and Hermione joined in. Alison was the baby, Rebecca was the sister and Hermione was the mum. She had great fun telling Rebecca to brush her teeth and Alison to eat her breakfast, and it wasn’t until she heard the others talking in the queue at lunchtime and saying she was too bossy that she realised that she’d done something wrong.
Another time, she started to make friends with one of the boys, Jamie, who didn’t seem to talk much to the others either. While the boys played football and the girls played Horses or Unicorns or something, they sat together at the edge of the playground talked about some books that they had both read: The Chronicles of Narnia. Hermione enjoyed herself tremendously.
Then a couple of days later, Rebecca started telling everyone in the class that Hermione fancied Jamie. Although Hermione would rather have died than admit it to anyone, she spent that lunchtime in the toilets, holding her breath whenever anyone came in so she wouldn’t let out a sob. She and Jamie only spoke to each other occasionally after that.
Her real trial, however, was PE. Hermione always felt terribly self-conscious about her white legs and she was never sure which way to run. It didn’t help that her hair tended to have a life of its own and after several attempts, even Mrs. Humphries gave up trying to get her to tie it into a normal ponytail.
In Netball, she tried her best to skulk in defence, but then Mrs. Humphries started making it a rule that you couldn’t be the same position twice in a row. That meant that she got glared at whenever she missed a shot, but she glared right back, keeping her shoulders squared like Mum reminded her to do whenever she slouched.
Still, Hermione had a good enough time. Mrs. Parker, her teacher, gave her gold stars whenever she answered questions right, which was often, and she always got the best place to sit in reading time. There was a squashy red chair just next to the bookcase, and if you got there early enough you could sit there for the whole hour and no one would bother you.
Her parents put her down for the eleven plus during the October of Year Six. They bought so many different revision guides from WH Smith that by the end of the first week of working for the exam, Hermione felt as though her head would explode. Some of the others at school called her a boffin but she just wanted to do well: it wasn’t as though she could just take it again, was it?
“Now, you mustn’t be upset if you don’t get in,” said Mum on the day of the exam. It was the first time that they’d talked about the possibility, and Hermione felt her nose prickle as Dad gave her a kind look.
“I know,” said Hermione, trying to sound as brave as possible, but secretly her heart was pounding. She blinked rapidly and clenched her teeth to stop herself from doing something silly. She had done heaps of revision but what if one of the questions was on something she hadn’t learned? In the practice papers there had been a couple of non-verbal reasoning questions that had completely flummoxed her.
She also knew that if she passed the exam she would go to the grammar school next year. Everyone she knew was going to one of the comprehensives, and although her parents had said she would be happy wherever she went she knew that the grammar school would be nicer. Besides, they had been there on an open day that summer and the library had been huge. Her fingertips had itched just looking at all the books.
Hermione finished the exam with twenty minutes to spare and spent the spare time checking over her answers like the booklets said to do, though she would rather have left the room there and then so as to stop the butterflies in her stomach.
She was exhausted when she got home. Dad had made her a chocolate sponge cake as a reward for doing the exam, but all she really wanted was to flop onto the sofa and read. She sank down before realising that the book she had been reading was on the other side of the room. She gave a wordless grump of frustration and started to stand up.
The book flew across the room to her hand.
Hermione blinked and held out her hand again. Nothing happened. She picked up her book and started to read, putting it down to nerves.
Then there was a time in early December when she tripped on an uneven paving stone on the way out of school and she could have sworn that her school skirt had torn, but when she looked down it was only muddy. She brushed herself off, checking her hands for grazes, and put it out of her mind.
On New Year’s Eve, Mum knocked a bottle of red wine with her elbow and it would have ruined the white tablecloth, but for some reason it steadied itself after a second. Hermione knew it shouldn’t have done it, because it couldn’t have balanced when tipping that distance. She’d learned it in Science.
In June, Hermione got a letter in the post. She didn’t usually get letters, except for the occasional scribbled postcard from Auntie Patricia in Australia that said things like ‘here are the names of a few videos you’d like, Hermione, they’re about marsupials. Make sure you watch them before Christmas’.
It was Saturday, so they were eating breakfast together; croissants and jam were Hermione’s favourite. But she forgot about her croissant when Mum handed her the letter. She felt her heart thump as she tore the envelope open and she almost didn’t want to read it, but she knew putting it off would just make her feel worse. She drew a deep breath and looked down.
She felt a huge smile spread across her face. “I got in,” she said, waving the letter in a vague sort of way because it didn’t quite feel real yet.
Mum gave a shriek and Dad leapt up and gave her a hug and then they were both talking at once and Hermione still felt a bit dazed. All she could think of was that lovely big library at the grammar school and how they wouldn’t tease her or anything because everyone would be interested in science and maths and how secondary school was stretching out in a big spread of possibility, like a – like a carpet in front of her. It was going to be wonderful.
“Oh, hang on,” said Dad, “there’s another letter for you. Here.” And he passed it over to her.
Author:
cinnamon_sakakiRating: G
Fandom: Harry Potter
Warnings: None
Prompt: Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads.
–Erica Jong
Summary: A look at Hermione's time at school before leaving the Muggle world for Hogwarts. (Note to people who don't have it: the eleven plus is an exam taken at eleven to determine whether you get into grammar school.) Thanks to Asuri at Perfect Imagination for the beta.
Hermione didn’t have many friends at school. It didn’t matter to her most of the time, because she liked to stay inside during playtime and read, but sometimes it was a bit upsetting.
One time, some of the other girls were playing Families and Hermione joined in. Alison was the baby, Rebecca was the sister and Hermione was the mum. She had great fun telling Rebecca to brush her teeth and Alison to eat her breakfast, and it wasn’t until she heard the others talking in the queue at lunchtime and saying she was too bossy that she realised that she’d done something wrong.
Another time, she started to make friends with one of the boys, Jamie, who didn’t seem to talk much to the others either. While the boys played football and the girls played Horses or Unicorns or something, they sat together at the edge of the playground talked about some books that they had both read: The Chronicles of Narnia. Hermione enjoyed herself tremendously.
Then a couple of days later, Rebecca started telling everyone in the class that Hermione fancied Jamie. Although Hermione would rather have died than admit it to anyone, she spent that lunchtime in the toilets, holding her breath whenever anyone came in so she wouldn’t let out a sob. She and Jamie only spoke to each other occasionally after that.
Her real trial, however, was PE. Hermione always felt terribly self-conscious about her white legs and she was never sure which way to run. It didn’t help that her hair tended to have a life of its own and after several attempts, even Mrs. Humphries gave up trying to get her to tie it into a normal ponytail.
In Netball, she tried her best to skulk in defence, but then Mrs. Humphries started making it a rule that you couldn’t be the same position twice in a row. That meant that she got glared at whenever she missed a shot, but she glared right back, keeping her shoulders squared like Mum reminded her to do whenever she slouched.
Still, Hermione had a good enough time. Mrs. Parker, her teacher, gave her gold stars whenever she answered questions right, which was often, and she always got the best place to sit in reading time. There was a squashy red chair just next to the bookcase, and if you got there early enough you could sit there for the whole hour and no one would bother you.
Her parents put her down for the eleven plus during the October of Year Six. They bought so many different revision guides from WH Smith that by the end of the first week of working for the exam, Hermione felt as though her head would explode. Some of the others at school called her a boffin but she just wanted to do well: it wasn’t as though she could just take it again, was it?
“Now, you mustn’t be upset if you don’t get in,” said Mum on the day of the exam. It was the first time that they’d talked about the possibility, and Hermione felt her nose prickle as Dad gave her a kind look.
“I know,” said Hermione, trying to sound as brave as possible, but secretly her heart was pounding. She blinked rapidly and clenched her teeth to stop herself from doing something silly. She had done heaps of revision but what if one of the questions was on something she hadn’t learned? In the practice papers there had been a couple of non-verbal reasoning questions that had completely flummoxed her.
She also knew that if she passed the exam she would go to the grammar school next year. Everyone she knew was going to one of the comprehensives, and although her parents had said she would be happy wherever she went she knew that the grammar school would be nicer. Besides, they had been there on an open day that summer and the library had been huge. Her fingertips had itched just looking at all the books.
Hermione finished the exam with twenty minutes to spare and spent the spare time checking over her answers like the booklets said to do, though she would rather have left the room there and then so as to stop the butterflies in her stomach.
She was exhausted when she got home. Dad had made her a chocolate sponge cake as a reward for doing the exam, but all she really wanted was to flop onto the sofa and read. She sank down before realising that the book she had been reading was on the other side of the room. She gave a wordless grump of frustration and started to stand up.
The book flew across the room to her hand.
Hermione blinked and held out her hand again. Nothing happened. She picked up her book and started to read, putting it down to nerves.
Then there was a time in early December when she tripped on an uneven paving stone on the way out of school and she could have sworn that her school skirt had torn, but when she looked down it was only muddy. She brushed herself off, checking her hands for grazes, and put it out of her mind.
On New Year’s Eve, Mum knocked a bottle of red wine with her elbow and it would have ruined the white tablecloth, but for some reason it steadied itself after a second. Hermione knew it shouldn’t have done it, because it couldn’t have balanced when tipping that distance. She’d learned it in Science.
In June, Hermione got a letter in the post. She didn’t usually get letters, except for the occasional scribbled postcard from Auntie Patricia in Australia that said things like ‘here are the names of a few videos you’d like, Hermione, they’re about marsupials. Make sure you watch them before Christmas’.
It was Saturday, so they were eating breakfast together; croissants and jam were Hermione’s favourite. But she forgot about her croissant when Mum handed her the letter. She felt her heart thump as she tore the envelope open and she almost didn’t want to read it, but she knew putting it off would just make her feel worse. She drew a deep breath and looked down.
She felt a huge smile spread across her face. “I got in,” she said, waving the letter in a vague sort of way because it didn’t quite feel real yet.
Mum gave a shriek and Dad leapt up and gave her a hug and then they were both talking at once and Hermione still felt a bit dazed. All she could think of was that lovely big library at the grammar school and how they wouldn’t tease her or anything because everyone would be interested in science and maths and how secondary school was stretching out in a big spread of possibility, like a – like a carpet in front of her. It was going to be wonderful.
“Oh, hang on,” said Dad, “there’s another letter for you. Here.” And he passed it over to her.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 04:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 02:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 03:29 pm (UTC)Such a simplicity to her, she's perfect. I love this story.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 04:24 am (UTC)Yes, and I especially like the last line. So much possibility! Nice work.
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Date: 2006-08-05 03:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 04:35 am (UTC)Also, for some reason Hermione's Aunt Patricia's postcard example made me laugh out loud. She would totally have family members like that.
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Date: 2006-08-05 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 04:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 06:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-03 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 03:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 06:42 am (UTC)Great job!
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Date: 2006-08-05 03:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 06:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 04:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-06 01:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-13 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-08 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2006-08-26 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-01 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-27 11:09 pm (UTC)You've highlighted all of the Hermione I love; her practical way of looking at things, her intelligence. Little Hermione also has a nicely fresh "innocent" touch, which fits nicely into that clincher of an ending.
there are the names of a few videos you’d like, Hermione, they’re about marsupials
Ahaha, I love this line; it's sweet and genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. ♥
no subject
Date: 2006-09-04 09:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-15 11:54 am (UTC)This was a beautiful look at pre-Hogwarts Hermione! I loved the way you outlined the path she could have taken. Well done.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-15 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-18 03:16 pm (UTC)Hermione knew it shouldn’t have done it, because it couldn’t have balanced when tipping that distance. She’d learned it in Science.
I really liked that line, for some reason! Hermione and her eternal scientific logic! :)
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Date: 2007-03-11 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-13 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-20 01:42 pm (UTC)