"Frosty cold!" Hermione, sitting next to Kevin Goldsmith, exclaimed. Her glass of water had frozen solid, with white frost forming on the rim.
"Oh, that's wonderful, Miss Granger!" Flitwick exclaimed in a high-pitched voice. The short man, a Charms Professor and Head of Ravenclaw, showed no signs of being a former Duelling Champion. "Perfect! Amazing!"
"Ice-cold and frosty!" Kevin tried to imitate his deskmate's gestures and even tone. Then he put a finger into a glass of water on the table. The water should have cooled down. But it was warm before, and it was still warm now.
"Your wand is shaking in the wrong direction," Hermione said, grabbing Kevin's arm and trying to correct him. Hannah, standing nearby, stared intently at her glass; the water inside had already begun to frost over before she even cast the spell.
However, Kevin Goldsmith's forced, correct shaking failed to make the spell work. Hermione felt she had distracted him too much, so she turned to help Ron. "Your consonants are too short, try to lengthen them a bit, and make your pronunciation clearer."
Ron clearly didn't want that kind of help; his ears turned redder than his hair. "No wonder everyone can't stand her," he told Harry after class. "Honestly, she's a nightmare. She must have noticed that she doesn't have a single friend. Kevin, for one, is basically insane too."
"Excuse me, I heard you. Shouldn't you speak more quietly when criticising others in public?" Kevin Goldsmith's listening test was always successful.
"Kevin, I'm sorry. Ron is just upset about being forced to accept Hermione's help every time he's in class, because it makes him look a little stupid." Harry apologised gently on Ron's behalf. "He just feels embarrassed."
"Wait, am I a little embarrassed?" Ron raised his voice to defend himself. "No, it's just that this nerd doesn't miss any opportunity to show how smart she is compared to us. Seriously, she should go to Ravenclaw; then it would be her type's turn to suffer this nightmare."
A figure entered the Common Room, then turned and fled, sobbing.
"I think that was Hermione; she obviously heard you too."
"So what?" Ron continued stubbornly, but a hint of unease crept in.
"Perhaps we should apologise," Harry suggested.
"We should play a tense and exciting game of Wizard's Chess," Ron said, clearly unwilling to back down.
"It's alright, Ron will only cause her further harm. ("We're the ones who will be harmed," Ron protested.) I'll go check on her. You guys just play your game." Kevin cast an object location spell, targeting Hermione's clothes.
*************************************************
Hermione curled up in a ball in the girls' communal bathroom. Why did it always turn out like this? Why did she always seem so out of place? She told herself it was because she was too smart, too precocious, like an adult among a bunch of unruly kids. So she had to take care of them and boss them around, but what did she get in return? "Freak, nerd," and impatient looks.
How happy she was when she learned she was a witch! She truly was different. It made sense that her classmates ostracised her; after all, how many witches were burned at the stake?
After arriving at Hogwarts, she tried her best to be friendly and help everyone in need. Yet, she was called "Mudblood, Nightmare." She didn't know which slight hurt her more. Thinking of this, tears streamed down her face for no apparent reason.
"Why did it turn out like this...? For the first time, I discovered the secrets of magic. I also made a true friend. Two happy things overlapped."
These two joys should have brought me even more happiness. What I received should have been a blissful, dreamlike time... But why did it turn out like this...?
"Who's there? Don't impersonate someone else's inner monologue!" Hermione snapped, and for some reason, she really wanted to cast an Unforgivable Curse on the owner of that voice.
Kevin Goldsmith came out a little embarrassed. "I actually wanted to cheer you up. There's no need to be upset by what your classmates said. They're still just eleven or twelve-year-old kids at heart. But you and I are, psychologically speaking, adults."
"Announcing to a girl you've just met that you're going to rule the world? That's incredibly cheesy for a mature and stable adult."
Kevin felt that he could no longer stay at Hogwarts, and for the first time, he longed to return to his original world.
"Why do you always have to be number one? Is it because you want recognition? Or do your parents think that their child has to be number one to be proud?" Kevin tried his best to change the subject.
"I don't strive to be number one in everything, like Flying class," Hermione retorted. Because in her view, Flying class was like physical education—not unimportant, but certainly not contributing to grades. "Besides, my parents are great; they just don't treat me like an independent person, they've always treated me like a child."
Hermione's father was indeed very good to her, better than most fathers. Hermione was sent to the best elementary school in town, where she could study any subject that interested her, buy all the books she wanted, and participate in any Math Olympiad (not the arcane arts) or science competitions she was interested in.
Before coming to school, she tried to fix a light bulb using the spell in the book, but she ended up messing up the entire power grid in the Dorkin region. Power company workers even came to her house to complain to her father. But her father just looked at her encouragingly. For her, any reasonable request would be granted, except for one thing: even the slightest bit of respect.
Of course, her father would listen attentively to Hermione's opinions and appear interested, as any competent and well-mannered parent would do, but he wouldn't actually adopt any of her suggestions.
Even after Professor McGonagall personally visited their home and demonstrated a series of miracles, they did agree to let me come to Hogwarts, but privately they wanted me to study Latin more at the school. (Many spells do indeed originate from Latin, and the British Civil Service Exams are also conducted in Latin.) And after graduation, I would go directly to university and take the Civil Service Exams.
Hermione complained sullenly, "A magical new world is unfolding before my eyes, but all my parents want me to do after graduation is take the Civil Service Exam."
"Should I call you Minister Hermione or Prime Minister Hermione?"
"You should shut up." Hermione's voice was at least less upset.
"Yes, Prime Minister."