Post by Francesca~*Pura Vida*~ on Jul 18, 2009 18:56:58 GMT -5
Chapter 1
Holding her husband's hand with her left hand, and chewing on the nails of her right hand, Jean Granger was dreading every bump on the road, every stoplight, every word on the radio. Eventually she turned the radio off and took to staring out the window.
Smiling at his wife's nerves, Wilfred Granger put on his most calming voice. "I'm sure it's nothing bad. They probably want to tell us we've got the next Einstein on our hands."
This, however, did not calm Jean's nerves. That Monday, after lunch, the Granger residence received a call from a very strict woman. The conversation kept replaying in Jean's mind.
"Good afternoon, am I speaking to a parent or guardian of Hermione Granger?"
"Yes, this is her mother, Jean. What's the matter?"
"I was wondering if you would like to join me for tea this Thursday to discuss your daughter's...academics."
Jean was too smart of a woman to look over the pause, and the stress in the woman's voice. "Is there any problem? Are you disappointed in Hermione?"
"Disappointed? Oh, heavens, no. I just fancy a chat. Well, can we gurantee your appointment?"
"Yes, of course." Once they hung up, Jean had sunk into this state of nerves and had not submerged all week. Today, Thursday, was the day.
Despite all of her husband's calming words, Jean could not help worrying that the Headmistress had finally discovered what Jean had discovered in the first 5 years of Hermione's life.
Strange things always happened around Hermione. Once, she lost her favorite doll. She saw a girl in the supermarket holding a similar doll, and began to cry. The doll's head fell off, and two little girls were now crying in the store. Jean had rushed her daughter out, confused but not yet suspicious as to what had happened.
Last year, Hermione wanted a certain peice of candy. Her mother refused to buy it and insisted that they leave the shop. Hermione compromised, although grudgingly, but not without the candy rack falling apart when they were at the door.
At dinner a few weeks ago, Hermione was becoming impatient because she wanted to go to her room and watch tv. Jean and Wilfred wouldn't let her leave until she had finished eating her dessert. Hermione's face turned red, and she crossed her arms. At that exact moment, a ketchup bottle exploded.
These things may have all been coincidental. However, Jean suspected something more. She couldn't explain it, but her only hope was that Hermione's teachers and schoolfriends would not think she was strange and would accept her for who she was. Now, however...It seemed as though the Headmistress had finally noticed something strange.
Hermione had been attending Somerset Oaks for 3 months by the time Jean and Wilfred were pulling into the parking lot, and walking along a cobblestone pathway towards the main office. Everyday she came home, reciting the alphabet, colors and numbers. She was very excited to go to school, and studied more than any other student. Her teachers occassionally suggested skipping a grade.
Through the oak front doors and across a marble hall was the Headmistress' office. A nice young blond woman was sitting behind the desk, and showed them through to the office.
The office was very blue and brown. Dark blue floor, light blue walls, a brown desk and many brown bookcases littered the room. Sitting behind the desk was a woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun, and glasses. She wore a delicious black pant suit, and held a pen in her hand. Sitting on the floor and drawing on construction paper was a small, bushy haired girl. The girl looked up at her parents and smiled.
"Oh Hermione! How was school today, sweetie?" Jean asked, while Wilfred greeted the Headmistress.
"Good afternoon, I am Headmistress Swick. How are you?"
"We're fine, thank you," said Wilfred, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the Headmistress' desk. His wife and daughter joined him.
"First of all, I would like to say that Hermione is very intelligent. She knows math, she knows how to read and write far better than any other 5 year old I've ever taught. But lately...There have been some instances---"
"I assure you, Headmistress Swick, Hermione is a very good girl. She wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Well...she hasn't hurt anyone, yet. But I'm afraid that time will come. Hermione, would you please wait outside with Miss Delia? Your parents and I will be out shortly."
Hermione, looking depressed, slid out of her chair and left the room.
"Now, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I'm sure Hermione is a fine child. I only wish to inform you of her recent behavior in class. The other day, she was sitting under...I don't know if you're going to believe me, but...a flying toy truck."
"Are you saying my daughter made something fly? That's impossible." said Wilfred, looking scandilized.
"It's the only explanation I could come up with...Just last week, the children were playing on the swingset. I heard Hermione crying, so I went outside to see what had happened. Apparently, two boys had taken over the swingset and told Hermione to leave. When I reached the swing set, I saw both boys AND their swings lying on the ground. Now this swingset is only a few years old. I can't bring myself to think that the swings just fell off the bar holding them. I don't want to beleive it had anything to do with Hermione, but I...."
"You must be imagining things. There is absolutely no way that Hermione was involved in that. How do you expect a 5 year old to pull a swing set apart?"
"I understand. I just wanted you to know...And another thing. Hermione is very distant with her peers. I never see her playing with another child. Does she have any friends at home?"
"Well...not necessarily. But all children go through a rough time making friends. She can't be perfect."
After discussing methods of getting Hermione a friend from school, the Headmistress showed Mr. and Mrs. Granger out of her office. They did not meet for another 3 years, other than at awards ceremonies. When they did meet, however, Headmistress Swick was not as careful with her words as in the past.
"I don't believe it! There's something wrong with that girl! I've refrained from telling you these past few years, but she keeps doing weird things! This is the last straw! If you don't do something about it, she'll have to leave!"
"And what do you expected us to do?!" Wilfred shouted back across the office. Jean simply stood there, lost for words. She had just learned that her daughter had somehow stuck a boy's tongue to the top of his throat when he called her a chipmunk.
"Take her to a doctor!"
"Are you suggesting Hermione is mentally unstable?" demanded Wilfred.
"I see no other possibility. Either do something about it, or I'm afraid this is the last time we will be meeting. I can not jeopradize the safety of my students for one oddball."
"Hermione is NOT an oddball and you won't have to worry about your precious students any longer because we are removing her from school!" And Mr. and Mrs. Granger stormed out of the office, Wilfred in an uproar and Jean still lost for words.
For the next 2 and a half years, Hermione was home-schooled. This was mostly Headmistress Swick's doing. Every time she heard of Hermione applying to another school, she wrote to their administration and warned them against Hermione. Wilfred and Jane had no choice.
~*~*~
Chapter 2
They were fighting again...Hermione could hear their angry voices drifting by her closed door, behind which she was laying down and had just woken up. Her parents' bedroom door slammed, and she slid off of her tiny twin bed.
Tiptoeing across her navy blue floor, decked out with gold stars and moons, Hermione snuck out of her room and went to listen by her parents' door. Their house had barely changed since she was an infant. However, the air was tense with argument.
"We can't send her to high school, Jane. She'll get picked on by all the other kids! None of them will appreciate her!"
"You don't know that!" Hermione's mother snapped back. "She hasn't got any friends, I hate to see her like this. I want her to have fun, and be a normal child. We can't keep her in home school forever."
"So you want to have antoher Headmistress Swick on our hands? Complaining about Hermione and declaring that she's mentally ill?"
Frozen with her ear to the door, Hermione tried to control her breathing. She had heard her parents talk like this before, but never voicing the opinion that there was something wrong with her. She might be differnet from other children, but there was certainly nothing wrong in her brain.
Or was there?
"Hermione is loads better!" Jane yelled, barely attempting to keep her voice down now. "She hasn't done anything strange for years!"
"Is that so? What about the nail polish?"
"That was nothing! That couldn't have been Hermione!"
Just 2 days before, Hermione had been caught playing with her mother's make up. Jane started to punish her, but not before all of the nail polish bottles had exploded, sending nail polish flying everywhere. All Hermione could remember was being extremely angry.
"Maybe not, but that's not the only weird thing that happens with her! What about when that poor kid Stan across that street said he wouldn't kiss Hermione, and his lips sprouted fungus! And might I remind you---"
"I would appreciate it if you would stop accusing Hermione of these atrocities just because they happen in her vicinity."
Hermione, meanwhile, on the other side of the door, had had just about enough. She was tired of hearing her parents fight over her. The next words out of her mother's mouth, however, sent Hermione over the edge.
"Maybe we should take her to the hospital. Just to make sure. If everything's okay with her, we send her to school."
SLAM!---the bedroom door was blown to shreds and Hermione stood in the doorway, shaking with fury. "I do NOT need to go to the hospital!"
"HERMIONE!" Wilfred shouted
"I have a right to listen to conversations if they're regarding me! There's nothing wrong with me! Why don't you believe me?!"
"Hermione! You just blew up the door! If you would stop doing things like that, we wouldn't have to take you to the hospital!"
"I'm NOT going to the hospital!" Hermione started to cry, outraged. They couldn't do this to her. It was wrong. "I can't control it! I'm different from everyone else! There's nothing I can do about it!"
Jane Granger ran forward, hugging her daughter. "That is why we have to take you to the hospital, dear. They can help you be able to do something about it."
After many tantrums and much more screaming, Hermione was walking down the stairs with a set expression on her face. She would not let the doctors declare her a freak, or subscribe medicine to sustain her mental health. She would not be seen as an oddity. She would control what made her so different from everyone else, and she would not disappoint her parents anymore. She was wearing a jacket to protect her from the light rain outside, as were her parents. Wilfred and Jane followed their daughter down the stairs, and proceeded through the door.
"Wait, Will, I want to check the mail. I've been waiting for that new magazine to come." Jane opened the mail box and fingered through the letters. She chose one out of the bunch, and lifted it up curiously, so as to see it better. Hermione saw a coat of arms on the back, which was a large letter H, surrounded by a serpent, an eagle, a badger and a lion.
"What's that?" she asked.
"I don't know..." Jean said slowly, opening the letter. It was revealed to be of parchment written with emerald green ink. Jean read slowly, with many different expressions on her face. Confusion, comprehension, worry, and finally, excitement. Hermione was watching her mother cautiously, as was Wilfred.
Wilfred read over his wife's shoulder, and shared the same expressions. He looked at his wife, and then Hermione, and then his wife again. "You know what this means, Jane?
Holding her husband's hand with her left hand, and chewing on the nails of her right hand, Jean Granger was dreading every bump on the road, every stoplight, every word on the radio. Eventually she turned the radio off and took to staring out the window.
Smiling at his wife's nerves, Wilfred Granger put on his most calming voice. "I'm sure it's nothing bad. They probably want to tell us we've got the next Einstein on our hands."
This, however, did not calm Jean's nerves. That Monday, after lunch, the Granger residence received a call from a very strict woman. The conversation kept replaying in Jean's mind.
"Good afternoon, am I speaking to a parent or guardian of Hermione Granger?"
"Yes, this is her mother, Jean. What's the matter?"
"I was wondering if you would like to join me for tea this Thursday to discuss your daughter's...academics."
Jean was too smart of a woman to look over the pause, and the stress in the woman's voice. "Is there any problem? Are you disappointed in Hermione?"
"Disappointed? Oh, heavens, no. I just fancy a chat. Well, can we gurantee your appointment?"
"Yes, of course." Once they hung up, Jean had sunk into this state of nerves and had not submerged all week. Today, Thursday, was the day.
Despite all of her husband's calming words, Jean could not help worrying that the Headmistress had finally discovered what Jean had discovered in the first 5 years of Hermione's life.
Strange things always happened around Hermione. Once, she lost her favorite doll. She saw a girl in the supermarket holding a similar doll, and began to cry. The doll's head fell off, and two little girls were now crying in the store. Jean had rushed her daughter out, confused but not yet suspicious as to what had happened.
Last year, Hermione wanted a certain peice of candy. Her mother refused to buy it and insisted that they leave the shop. Hermione compromised, although grudgingly, but not without the candy rack falling apart when they were at the door.
At dinner a few weeks ago, Hermione was becoming impatient because she wanted to go to her room and watch tv. Jean and Wilfred wouldn't let her leave until she had finished eating her dessert. Hermione's face turned red, and she crossed her arms. At that exact moment, a ketchup bottle exploded.
These things may have all been coincidental. However, Jean suspected something more. She couldn't explain it, but her only hope was that Hermione's teachers and schoolfriends would not think she was strange and would accept her for who she was. Now, however...It seemed as though the Headmistress had finally noticed something strange.
Hermione had been attending Somerset Oaks for 3 months by the time Jean and Wilfred were pulling into the parking lot, and walking along a cobblestone pathway towards the main office. Everyday she came home, reciting the alphabet, colors and numbers. She was very excited to go to school, and studied more than any other student. Her teachers occassionally suggested skipping a grade.
Through the oak front doors and across a marble hall was the Headmistress' office. A nice young blond woman was sitting behind the desk, and showed them through to the office.
The office was very blue and brown. Dark blue floor, light blue walls, a brown desk and many brown bookcases littered the room. Sitting behind the desk was a woman with black hair pulled into a tight bun, and glasses. She wore a delicious black pant suit, and held a pen in her hand. Sitting on the floor and drawing on construction paper was a small, bushy haired girl. The girl looked up at her parents and smiled.
"Oh Hermione! How was school today, sweetie?" Jean asked, while Wilfred greeted the Headmistress.
"Good afternoon, I am Headmistress Swick. How are you?"
"We're fine, thank you," said Wilfred, sitting down in one of the chairs in front of the Headmistress' desk. His wife and daughter joined him.
"First of all, I would like to say that Hermione is very intelligent. She knows math, she knows how to read and write far better than any other 5 year old I've ever taught. But lately...There have been some instances---"
"I assure you, Headmistress Swick, Hermione is a very good girl. She wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Well...she hasn't hurt anyone, yet. But I'm afraid that time will come. Hermione, would you please wait outside with Miss Delia? Your parents and I will be out shortly."
Hermione, looking depressed, slid out of her chair and left the room.
"Now, Mr. and Mrs. Granger, I'm sure Hermione is a fine child. I only wish to inform you of her recent behavior in class. The other day, she was sitting under...I don't know if you're going to believe me, but...a flying toy truck."
"Are you saying my daughter made something fly? That's impossible." said Wilfred, looking scandilized.
"It's the only explanation I could come up with...Just last week, the children were playing on the swingset. I heard Hermione crying, so I went outside to see what had happened. Apparently, two boys had taken over the swingset and told Hermione to leave. When I reached the swing set, I saw both boys AND their swings lying on the ground. Now this swingset is only a few years old. I can't bring myself to think that the swings just fell off the bar holding them. I don't want to beleive it had anything to do with Hermione, but I...."
"You must be imagining things. There is absolutely no way that Hermione was involved in that. How do you expect a 5 year old to pull a swing set apart?"
"I understand. I just wanted you to know...And another thing. Hermione is very distant with her peers. I never see her playing with another child. Does she have any friends at home?"
"Well...not necessarily. But all children go through a rough time making friends. She can't be perfect."
After discussing methods of getting Hermione a friend from school, the Headmistress showed Mr. and Mrs. Granger out of her office. They did not meet for another 3 years, other than at awards ceremonies. When they did meet, however, Headmistress Swick was not as careful with her words as in the past.
"I don't believe it! There's something wrong with that girl! I've refrained from telling you these past few years, but she keeps doing weird things! This is the last straw! If you don't do something about it, she'll have to leave!"
"And what do you expected us to do?!" Wilfred shouted back across the office. Jean simply stood there, lost for words. She had just learned that her daughter had somehow stuck a boy's tongue to the top of his throat when he called her a chipmunk.
"Take her to a doctor!"
"Are you suggesting Hermione is mentally unstable?" demanded Wilfred.
"I see no other possibility. Either do something about it, or I'm afraid this is the last time we will be meeting. I can not jeopradize the safety of my students for one oddball."
"Hermione is NOT an oddball and you won't have to worry about your precious students any longer because we are removing her from school!" And Mr. and Mrs. Granger stormed out of the office, Wilfred in an uproar and Jean still lost for words.
For the next 2 and a half years, Hermione was home-schooled. This was mostly Headmistress Swick's doing. Every time she heard of Hermione applying to another school, she wrote to their administration and warned them against Hermione. Wilfred and Jane had no choice.
~*~*~
Chapter 2
They were fighting again...Hermione could hear their angry voices drifting by her closed door, behind which she was laying down and had just woken up. Her parents' bedroom door slammed, and she slid off of her tiny twin bed.
Tiptoeing across her navy blue floor, decked out with gold stars and moons, Hermione snuck out of her room and went to listen by her parents' door. Their house had barely changed since she was an infant. However, the air was tense with argument.
"We can't send her to high school, Jane. She'll get picked on by all the other kids! None of them will appreciate her!"
"You don't know that!" Hermione's mother snapped back. "She hasn't got any friends, I hate to see her like this. I want her to have fun, and be a normal child. We can't keep her in home school forever."
"So you want to have antoher Headmistress Swick on our hands? Complaining about Hermione and declaring that she's mentally ill?"
Frozen with her ear to the door, Hermione tried to control her breathing. She had heard her parents talk like this before, but never voicing the opinion that there was something wrong with her. She might be differnet from other children, but there was certainly nothing wrong in her brain.
Or was there?
"Hermione is loads better!" Jane yelled, barely attempting to keep her voice down now. "She hasn't done anything strange for years!"
"Is that so? What about the nail polish?"
"That was nothing! That couldn't have been Hermione!"
Just 2 days before, Hermione had been caught playing with her mother's make up. Jane started to punish her, but not before all of the nail polish bottles had exploded, sending nail polish flying everywhere. All Hermione could remember was being extremely angry.
"Maybe not, but that's not the only weird thing that happens with her! What about when that poor kid Stan across that street said he wouldn't kiss Hermione, and his lips sprouted fungus! And might I remind you---"
"I would appreciate it if you would stop accusing Hermione of these atrocities just because they happen in her vicinity."
Hermione, meanwhile, on the other side of the door, had had just about enough. She was tired of hearing her parents fight over her. The next words out of her mother's mouth, however, sent Hermione over the edge.
"Maybe we should take her to the hospital. Just to make sure. If everything's okay with her, we send her to school."
SLAM!---the bedroom door was blown to shreds and Hermione stood in the doorway, shaking with fury. "I do NOT need to go to the hospital!"
"HERMIONE!" Wilfred shouted
"I have a right to listen to conversations if they're regarding me! There's nothing wrong with me! Why don't you believe me?!"
"Hermione! You just blew up the door! If you would stop doing things like that, we wouldn't have to take you to the hospital!"
"I'm NOT going to the hospital!" Hermione started to cry, outraged. They couldn't do this to her. It was wrong. "I can't control it! I'm different from everyone else! There's nothing I can do about it!"
Jane Granger ran forward, hugging her daughter. "That is why we have to take you to the hospital, dear. They can help you be able to do something about it."
After many tantrums and much more screaming, Hermione was walking down the stairs with a set expression on her face. She would not let the doctors declare her a freak, or subscribe medicine to sustain her mental health. She would not be seen as an oddity. She would control what made her so different from everyone else, and she would not disappoint her parents anymore. She was wearing a jacket to protect her from the light rain outside, as were her parents. Wilfred and Jane followed their daughter down the stairs, and proceeded through the door.
"Wait, Will, I want to check the mail. I've been waiting for that new magazine to come." Jane opened the mail box and fingered through the letters. She chose one out of the bunch, and lifted it up curiously, so as to see it better. Hermione saw a coat of arms on the back, which was a large letter H, surrounded by a serpent, an eagle, a badger and a lion.
"What's that?" she asked.
"I don't know..." Jean said slowly, opening the letter. It was revealed to be of parchment written with emerald green ink. Jean read slowly, with many different expressions on her face. Confusion, comprehension, worry, and finally, excitement. Hermione was watching her mother cautiously, as was Wilfred.
Wilfred read over his wife's shoulder, and shared the same expressions. He looked at his wife, and then Hermione, and then his wife again. "You know what this means, Jane?