Improbable Works

Series #4 : Hermione the White

J.R.R. Tolkien owns everything in Lord of the Rings. JK Rowling owns
everything in Harry Potter. I keep nothing but charecterization sacred, and
write to the best of my abilities.

The story is a first year AU, focusing on Hermione who had a very different
past indeed. There will not be any random elvish in this story, considering
that I have a very little elvish knowledge beyond the word Yrch.

Chapter 1 : Garbed in White

===========

"Excuse me, but have you seen a toad?"

Harry and Ron looked up from where Ron was attempting to cast a spell on
Scabbers the Rat. There, standing in the doorway was a girl with bushy brown
hair that fell in gentle waves. She was dressed in Hogwarts robes, but to
their surprise, they were a pristine white, almost blinding to look at. Most
of the robes however were hidden under a thick cloak of grey. Harry actually
squinted and Ron threw up his hand reflexively. In one hand, she carried an
ornate staff that wove itself into a decorative head that seemed fitted for
someone much taller.

"Oh, you're doing some magic? How quaint this modern magic is. Go on." said
the girl.

Ron, a bit unsure of himself, waved his wand over Scabbers. "Sunshine,
daisies, butter mellow... turn this stupid fat rat yellow." He tapped
Scabbers, but Scabbers merely yawned and curled up for a nap.

The girl stiffled a giggle. Ron glared at her and said, "Well, I suppose you
could do better?"

"Much." The girl muttered something in an unfamiliar language and gestured
her staff across Scabbers. The rat squeaked and turned a shocking neon
yellow. The girl, looking satisfied with her results, said something else
and Scabbers reverted to his common dirty brown color.

"What kind of spell was that?" Ron exclaimed. "And how did you do it without
a wand?"

The girl pulled a twelve inch wand from her robes and looked at it.
"Anything can be a source. You just need to know what to use it with. Oh,
forgot to introduce myself. Hermione Granger, the White."

"Ron. Ronald Weasley. And this is Scabbers." He nudged his pet rat which
curled up and squeaked.

"And I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Harry said. "Tell me, why are you wearing
white Hogwarts robes with a grey cloak over it? I thought you could only get
them in black."

"It is a family thing," Hermione replied. "Our family is decended from a
powerful Wizard and wizards and witches of our family wear white, blue,
brown or grey."

Ron peered at it and then snapped his fingers. "I know that staff! Dad
showed a picture of it when we went to the Ministry! That's the staff of
Gandalf the White!"

"Gandalf the White? Wasn't he a charecter in a book?" Harry asked, confused.

"Sort of," Hermione said. "Great Grandfather Gandalf was a wizard who
predated even Merlin and rivaled him in power. He died as the Grey, but was
brought back to life by an ancient spell of some sort, and became the White.
The staff when he was the Grey is lost in the depths of old Moria when he
fought the Balrog. He then lived for more than three fourths of a millenium.
A muggle friend of his, JRR Tolkien was so impressed with his friends deeds
that he transcribed some of his adventures into the Lord of the Rings novel
you see today."

"Wicked," Ron said, awed. "I heard that your family sends a Granger to
school once every twenty years, and the rest are apprenticed in the family
magic."

Hermione laughed. "Well, our family normally has two or three children a
decade, so I have lots of cousins. I'm an only child, and the staff chose
me."

"The staff chose you?" Harry asked curiously.

Hermione nodded. "The staff chooses its master, as it is a powerful, and
somewhat sencient magical artifact. It chooses the one who it believes will
make a great impact on the magical world. And, it can sence if someone is
going to turn out bad or good. So it depends on what the staff determines as
acceptable." Her expression darkened. "There were some people who turned out
to be bad and they were still able to use the staff. So I guess it has an
odd way of determining who is worthy of it."

As time wore on, an annoucement filtered over the cars, saying that they
would be arriving at Hogwarts shortly. Leaving the pair to change, Hermione
swept out of the car. Ron grinned as he said, "I hope she's in our house. It
'd be interesting to see one of the oldest wizarding families with us."

=============

"Granger, Hermione."

Hermione easily stood out in the sea of black robes, even with the splendor
of her robes hidden by the grey cloak over it. Sitting down, she laid her
staff on her lap and placed the Sorting Hat on her head.

"Hmmm...." said the hat. It did not speak aloud, nor speak in telepathic
manner. It was like a little voice next to your ear. "Very estute mind you
have here. And a Granger, my my, is this a surprise. I remember sorting your
father into Hogwarts. A Ravenclaw he was. There's quite a bit of bravery
here, excellent for Gryffindor, and lots of intelligance for Ravenclaw. I'm
afraid you won't fit into Slytherin or Hufflepuff my dear. Not odd and
patient enough and you have too much bravery within you to block out
ambition."

"Well? Which is it?" Hermione asked, playing along with the Sorting Hat.

"Better make it... GRYFFINDOR!"

Gryffindor House erupted into cheers as Hermione slid off the stool and
replaced the hat on the stool. Taking up her staff which towered over her by
a good two feet, she sat down and leaned her staff on the side of the table.

Two red haired teenagers sat beside her. The first one stuck out his hand.
"Welcome to Gryffindor," he said. "I'm Fred, and this is George."

"Hermione," Hermione said, shaking hands with them. "My goodness, does it
take so long to sort students into their houses?"

"We're a bit slow this year, probably because there's quite a few." George
said. "Lets hope Ronniekins gets into Gryffindor."

"True, true, I'd hang myself if he got into someplace like Slytherin." Fred
agreed wholeheartedly.

"Mother would be crushed," George said with a twinkle in his eye.

"And she'd send him howler upon howler." Fred finished.

"Oh that reminds me; we should remember to blow up a toilet and send Ginny
that seat." said George.

Fred grinned maniacally. "Very good, I had forgotten about that! Excellent!"

Hermione was in giggles as "Potter, Harry" was called. "My god, you two are
insane!"

"Runs in the family," Fred said.

"Father is somewhat of a nutter in the family, extends to us," George
finished.

Just then, the shout of "GRYFFINDOR!" echoed in the room as they applauded
for Harry's venture into Gryffindor. Soon, the name "Weasley, Ronald" was
called and everyone heard the Sorting Hat's gripe about another Weasley
being in Hogwarts. Ron's ears went pink and Fred and George howled in
laughter. But he too was sorted into Gryffindor and the sorting was done
after "Zabini, Blaise" was sorted into Slytherin.

Dumbledore stood up after Professor Flitwick returned the Sorting Hat to an
antechamber in the side of the Great Hall. Clearing his throat for
attention, he said, "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we
begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are :
Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Dumbledore sat down amidst applause, and the feast began. Hermione heard
Harry ask another red haired boy whom Fred said was their brother, Percy,
"Is he a bit mad?"

Hermione giggled as she started in on the food that had been sent up by the
House Elves. It was delicious, as good as her mothers cooking. Her mother,
being a muggle tended to cook in the muggle way while her father came from a
similar family where his mother was a muggle and his father was a wizard.

Hermione listened to the chatter around her, and indulging in some of her
own, specifically questions about classes and such. The Weasley twins were
helpful in telling the names of various professors. There was a little man
who she learned was Professor Flitwick who taught Charms and Ravenclaw's
house head, Professor Vector who taught Arithmancy and Professor Sprout who
was both the Hufflepuff house head and Herbology professor sitting and
chatting conversationally.

Then there was Professor McGongagall who taught Transfiguration and was also
the head of Gryffindor house, Professor Sinistra, the one who taught
Astronomy at midnight, and Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts. On
the other side of Dumbledore sat Professor Quirrell who taught the DADA.
Hermione noticed that he was exceptionally nervous for some reason or other
and wore a gaudy violet turban.

Sitting next to him was Professor Severus Snape, Potions professor and head
of Slytherin House. There were more professors but due to the fact that
Professor Trelawney rarely ventured out of her tower, and Professor Binns
was dead, being Hogwarts only ghost professor and did not require
nourishment, they were not present at the opening banquet. There was no sign
of the Muggle Studies professor, and was considered an oddity in Hogwarts as
he or she had not appeared at most banquets.

Soon into the banquet, a ghost floated up through the roast turkey,
startling Ron and Harry and a few others close by. Hermione fought the
reflex to drop her cutlery and smack the immaterial ghost with her staff.
"Hello there!" The ghost exclaimed jovially. He was a ghost who wore
clothing from the old victorian age, complete with a giant ruff about his
neck. "Quite the lot of Gryffindors this year. Sir Nicholas de
Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" Ron exclaimed, mouth half full of roast mutton. "My
brothers told me about you -- you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"I would prefer to be called Nicholas de Mimsy --" Nick started, but was cut
off by Seamus Finnigan.

"Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?"

Hermione giggled at Nick's miffed expression as he said, "Like this," and
yanked his head off, revealing an inch of skin and sinew holding it on like
some kind of ghostly, fleshy hinge. Returning his head to its proper
position, amidst gasps of shock around the first years, Nick remarked that
Slytherin had won all of the house championships for the last seven years,
and he expected Gryffindor to win.

Soon, the food vanished and was replaced by puddings of all types. Ice
cream, jelly doughnuts, chocolate eclairs, rice pudding, jelly, and other
such hearty foods. Hermione helped herself to some treacle tart as she
contemplated the start of classes for the next day. She was quite eager to
get into the start of modern magic, and even as bookish as she was, she hadn
't learned all of the Sindarian spells yet.

Magic back in the old day before all of the modern types was divided into
two types : wizardry and sorcery. Sorcery was the equivilant of dark magic,
but much more subtle in nature than curses. Wizardry was commonplace amongst
her family, and was quite subtle in nature.

While most wizards of the modern age used wands, a wizard of her family was
defined by the color of their robes and the power of their words of command.
Hermione, due to her knowledge and skill since she was young, was a white
level wizard, one of the most powerful wizards of the old age. Her mother
was a white, and her father was a black. Black was the strongest of all, but
had the tendancy to become erratic in old age. And very few, since the age
of her great grandfather Gandalf had become black, most stopping at the
level of white.

Most of the main family line turned out to be white wizards, while the rest
came in varying shades of brown, grey and blue. white and black seemed to be
a constant in the main family vein with the odd smattering of grey wizards.

Hermione was well versed in most of the words of command, as each Granger
child with magic within them were taught the most basic spells such as
Animal Messenger, Bane-spells, Beast Speech and even Beast Summoning. Even
the lowest level of Grangers, the browns, could do those. Hermione could do
things such as Blinding Flash, Burning Sparks, Display Power and even Evoke
Awe. Evoke Awe and Display Power at the same time was quite the method of
dealing with bullies of any sort, for in combonation, it made the caster
look very tall and powerful, and lightning or thunder can crash to enuciate
their power. Her grandfather when labeling the spells he used, didn't need
any fancy latin words, just plain old english, and were mostly sung in some
language he claimed was mostly Sindarian.

As the banquet came to a close admist excited chatterings of first years and
casual conversation within the second to seventh years, Hermione gathered up
her staff and held it in her hands. She noted absently that her hands went
straight to the staff, a habit she must break sometime. The Professors would
probably be most upset with Hermione carrying a great big staff everywhere
she went. Professor Dumbledore then stood, and the hall fell silent.

"Ahem - just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few
start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest
in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students
would to well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed
in the direction of the Weasley Twins.

Fred and George exchanged mischevious grins as they silently plotted out
their next prank that would include the Forbidden Forest. Hermione giggled
under her hand as she nervously toyed with the staff in her hands. Not
everything could be forbidden here, could it?

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that no
magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will
be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their
house teams should contact Madam Hooch."

At this, Hermione looked interested. Her family, while part of the wizarding
community, preferred Muggle sports such as football, american baseball and
american football. She had personally had only seen Quidditch in magical
books, and was looking forward to her first flying lesson. Ancient Magic,
while ancient, could not make someone fly like a bird without enchanting
something, or calling one of the Wind Lords from their roosts in northern
Scotland.

"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on
the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a
very painful death." There was a smattering of laughter, but very few did.
Obviously, annoucements involving death weighed heavily on people.

Harry Potter sat near where Hermione sat, turned to Percy and muttered, "He'
s not serious?"

"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. It's odd, because he usually
gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full
of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us
prefects, at least."

Hermione decided that she would take the annoucement seriously. Though her
natural curiosity got to her and she pondered why a floor would be forbidden
in a magic school.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried
Dumbledore. There was a tiny bit of muffled groaning and the professors
smiles became strained. Dumbledore flicked his wand and a long golden ribbon
flew out and twisted itself into snake-like into words.

Hermione sang the song as quickly as possible, and the song lasted a full
five minutes with Fred and George singing it like a long funeral dirge. As
Dumbledore conducted the end of the long song with his wand, he was one of
the few who clapped loudest. Obviously, it had become something of a strain
for the professors, as it was more or less a forced venture each year.

Dumbledore then annouced the bedtime of the students as the tables became
clusted with chattering crowds. The first years, including Hermione followed
Percy behind him. Anyone who got lost followed the long spire of Hermione's
staff as Percy had held it up so that first year Gryffindors would not get
lost.

Suddenly, Percy halted and people piled up behind him. There, floating
before them was a bundle of walking sticks. He took a step forward and they
began to throw themselves at him. "Peeves," Percy whispered to the first
years. "A Poltergeist. Peeves -- show yourself!"

There was a loud and rude sound, reminicent of air letting out of a balloon,
or someone had sat on a muggle whoopie cushion. "Do you want me to go get
the Bloody Baron?" Percy added.

There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth
appeared. Hermione, being that she was in the front, reacted predictably.
She grabbed her staff from Percy and yelled something in an unfamiliar
language. There was a brilliant flash and Peeves fell to the ground, stunned
and dazed. Percy stooped, prodded Peeves as best he could and then turned to
Hermione. "What did you do?"

"It is a spell, designed to damage spirits or ghosts. It dazes them long
enough to make an escape. Perfect for Poltergeists." Hermione had recomposed
herself. "I suppose we should report this then?"

"No, he had it coming." Percy sidestepped an unconcious Peeves and called
out, "First years, this way!"

Fred leaned over to George and said in a low voice, "I think I'm going to
like it having her around."

===============

Authors notes : Chapter 1 is finished! After so much time! I'm sorry it's so
short, but there is only so much you can do while recreating the first year.

As a note to everyone, especially Digital Faith, I have edited this chapter
for errors. Thanks for pointing out that Arithmancy typo.