That Insufferable Know It All Hermione Granger

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

The sea of people opened as Cass stormed down the transfiguration hallway after class. Thin and trim once again, no one seemed to noticed that she had dumped a good twenty to thirty pounds after the holidays. She was back in her normal sized robes, with her normal size shoes, and her normal sized belly. Her normal sized, empty belly. That thought took a bit of wind out of her sails. She slowed down a bit. Cassandra only wanted the refuge of her four poster in Gryffindor tower, and until a few moments ago, nothing would of kept her from her goal. She was sick of everything. Sick of Julian. Sick of the rumors. Sick of the truth. Sick of Finn. Finn's face floated in her memory. Biting her lip, she could only let the cold, hard truth seep into her bones. She would never be sick of Finn Miles.

Automatically saying the password, the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open to admit her entrance. She wondered what Finn was doing at that exact moment. Maybe she would wake up tomorrow morning and find out that the past eight months had been a dream? It was doubtful. Would a well placed memory charm work? Perhaps, but she wasn't willing to fry her brain to find out. We these thoughts in tow, she carried her heavy baggage of emotions and memories up the stairs to her dorm room. It was empty except for her old cat, Ringo. Cass seemed to wrench her shoes off and fall on her bed all at the same time. Ringo hissed and ran away as she did so. "What? You don't want to cuddle?" She called after her oldest and dearest furry friend. Silence was her only reply. "Stupid cat...," was all she mustered in retort while reaching down for her tote bag.

A crumpled pile of parchment fell out on her bed in front of her. She had gotten back several papers today, and had yet taken a look at them. Most had extremely high marks, except for her Ancient Runes. She would have to work on that one. Cass had scraped an OWL in the class, and nearly begged Professor Green to let her in the NEWT class. She promised him he wouldn't be sorry. It looked like she was going to break that one. Cass balled up and threw each paper into the rubbish bin that sat at the foot of the bed. Two years ago, a couple of her quidditch buddies had fixed up a mock quidditch stadium over the basket. Each one of her paper quaffles sailed through one of the three goal posts that were perched on the side. Ha! I could of made it as a chaser!

Cass went on like this for a good ten minutes. Look, crumple, toss. Look, crumple, toss. Look, crumple -!!!! "What the bloody hell? I can't beli- Who in the bloody hell does she think she is?" Painful thoughts forgotten, Cass sat rigid in her bed as she looked at the Transfiguration paper Hermi-! No, Professor Grainger, Cass thought bitterly. The large, red 'D' stared at Cassandra from the paper. It was about human transfiguration. Human transfiguration! "How in the world does the only student animagus in this school score a D on a paper about human transfiguration?" Her audience meowed in agreement. She shoved her feet quickly back into her shoes so she could confront Hermione -! No, Professor Granger, Cass mentally stopped herself again.

The trip to Hermione's office was quick compared to the one from class. She had cooled off a bit though. Hermione Granger knew Cassandra back in her Logton days. They weren't good friends, but they did know each other. She frequently remembered the bushy haired girl cheering her on from the stands during her first few quidditch practices. She had tagged along with Harry and Ron to watch them practice. Hermione had spent most of those afternoons with her nose shoved into some thick, yellow papered book while the match whirred around her. Still, Hermione had always taken the time to yell encouragement or clap when a particularly good play was made.

Cass couldn't get used to saying Professor Granger. She had been Hermione for so long that it was hard to call her anything but her first name. Here she was though. She was about to walk into Professor Grainger's office to respectfully request why in the hell she had given her a dreadful on her paper. Knocking softly, she waited for permission to enter. The office was sparse except for the books that lined the wall. "Hermi -, I mean Professor Granger," she blushed as the teacher stared her down from behind the large wooden desk. "I've come to discuss my paper. I don't understand the grade. You see, I know about human transfigurations." She ended her opening with that since she wasn't sure how much Hermione knew about her after school activities with McGonogall. "I haven't received a D in transfiguration since I was a first year."

[Hermione Granger]

Hermione sat her desk. Essay upon essay upon essay. That was what she tended to when she wasn't teaching in class. She set a lot of essays, but she knew it was necessary to keep her pupils working and stimulated. Some of them probably resented her for it, no doubt, but one day, many of them would realise how much she was helping them prepare for their exams. It was better to work hard now, practice in between having fun, then cram at the very last minute - very much like how Harry and Ron used to work. A ghost of a memory caused a smile to twitch at Hermione's lips. Brushing it away gently, she turned to her fifth essay of this afternoon. They were from her OWL pupils in their Fourth and Fifth Years, and so far they had been impressive. It was a pleasure to mark them, if not a little tedious, though, since this year group was definitely her biggest - Transfiguration being compulsory for OWL. She had about fifty or more essays? Something like that.

Just as she was halfway through marking the paper, a knock on her door interrupted her. "Come in," Hermione called without moving her eyes from the page. She wasn't expecting anyone. Was it Adam, coming to say hi and look for company after his working day? Hermione doubted it. Normally they collided in the staff room or corridors, and sometimes met each other in between, but neither of them went out of their way to talk to each other usually. Even though they had established a friendship of sorts, they didn't spend a significant amount of time together.

When a voice broke her concentration, Hermione looked up to see Cassandra Fallon standing before her. She had almost called her by her first name, and had she not corrected herself Hermione would have done so. "Yes?" she asked Cassandra, laying her quill down and waiting for the Gryffindor to tell her why she was here. Hermione remembered Cassandra from her younger years at Hogwarts, since she was only two years younger than her, but she had been Cassandra Logton, then. Then it had become Cassandra Blackfire... and now, Cassandra Fallon. Hermione eyed the ring on her pupil fleetingly. She wondered how Cassandra had married so young. Hermione had never wanted to marry young. Or had she? Well, all of her past goals and ambitions had changed. She had never dreamed of becoming s Hogwarts professor, but look at her now, sitting at her own desk in her own office. Transfiguration Professor.

Hermione had never minded Cassandra. In a way, she was reminded of herself: strong-willed, stubborn. But Cassandra had a knack for getting in even more trouble than Hermione. Then again, she had never taken on the Dark Lord and lived to tell the tale - worse for wear. Hermione waited for Cassandra to talk, and when she did, she understood exactly why the girl was here. She had expected it, but had rather forgotten it too. A few days ago, Hermione had been marking essays just like today, but only they were from her NEWT class. She remembered giving Cassandra a D - she hadn't quite expected it, and evidently neither had Cassandra, but Hermione would explain to her exactly why it was a D grade. She was not at all annoyed by her pupil confronting her about her paper - she welcomed it. It was exactly what Hermione would have done in her place.

Hermione inclined her eyes to look at Cassandra when she mentioned she knew all about it. "I'm assuming you're referring to your animagus training with Headmistress McGonagall?" she asked. Then she nodded. "But, Miss Fallon... Cassandra." She allowed a small smile at her student who was barely younger than her. "Just because you are an animagus in training doesn't mean you know all about the necessary tricks to a Transfiguration essay. The exam is differently structured - and that's why I agve you a D. The step-up between Sixth and Seventh Year is more than people think." Hermione gave a casual shrug. "You were not the only pupil to get a D, so do not be put off by that." Matter-of-factly, she said, "Practical transfiguration and theoretical transfiguration are different things."

Hermione stood and waved Cassandra over to some chairs and a table. "Let me show you." They sat. "Have you brought your paper?" She waited for Cassandra to produce it or accio it, before starting. "Firstly, when a question asks you to explore human transfiguration, although it doesn't state it specifically, you need to explore every side of the argument." Hermione accioed a NEWT textbook to the table and flipped it open. "You discussed animagi transfiguration, but you didn't address other issues, such as why animagi transfiguration is limited. You didn't talk about the difficulties of human transfiguration like transfiguring rats and the like. An example would be 'Crustumus', which I taught in class that day. Do you remember?" Hermione waited for Cassandra's reaction and wondered how she would react. "It was not a bad paper, Cassie," she said with a small smile. "You just didn't fully explore the question. You can't gain high marks if you don't. That's the only way to jump the A boundary in NEWT. Talking about one thing in detail is not enough."