1st August 1991

Hermione Granger had always been a slightly peculiar child. From a very young age her parents had noticed that she had an incredible intellect and a veracious appetite for learning, reading novels before most children had the ability to concentrate on picture books and constantly asking questions about the world she saw around her;

"Mummy why is the water in the sea blue but not the water in the sink"

"Daddy, what was the first living thing on the planet"

"Mummy why can we talk to each other but the animals can't talk to us"

And so on and so forth a hundred times a day until Mr and Mrs Granger concluded they had managed produced a singularly bright, albeit very persistent, child.

There were other ways however, in which Hermione Granger presented as peculiar. There had been odd, unexplainable instances throughout her childhood that Mr and Mrs Granger could not liken to any other child they had heard of. There was the time she had been teased fiercely by little Tommy Coutts in her class about her overlarge front teeth, Tommy had sworn Hermione was the reason he had then projectile vomited for the rest of the afternoon, spoiling his uniform and his shoes but Mr and Mrs Granger could see no way that Hermione could have caused that to happen. Then there was the time that Maisy Garrett had shouted out in the middle of assembly that Hermione's hair looked like a bird's nest, as the laughter of the whole school had echoed around Hermione, Maisy had reached up to touch her hair and a large clump fell out in her hand. The teachers assured everyone it was a strange and unfortunate coincidence but that hadn't stopped Maisy's parents arriving at Mr and Mrs Granger's door to shout at them for a full twenty minutes.

Neither of these incidents also helped Hermione in her perusal of friendship. It was hard for Mr and Mrs Granger to ignore the fact that although Hermione was incredibly intelligent, kind, well-mannered and (when she was at home) funny, she had not a single other child who she could call a friend. There had been many times when Hermione had rushed out of the play ground into her mother or fathers arms in tears as one child or another had picked on her. She got along with her teachers very well, and they often commented to Mr and Mrs Granger on Hermione's remarkable ability to hold a very mature and interesting conversation with them, however they also observed how Hermione sat alone in lessons and at lunch, and when she tried to interact with other children she was often shunned, labelled as a 'know-it-all', a 'teachers pet' or just simply 'weird'.

Nevertheless Hermione had made it through primary school with her nose still buried in books and now it was the summer holidays. In a few weeks Hermione would begin attending secondary school. Her parents had chosen a school further afield than all her peers at her primary school, not only for its excellent standard of education and teaching, but also in the hope that a whole new set of pupils would create a fresh start for Hermione and a chance to make some friends.

The day was a sunny one, warm with a slightly breeze that made the little apple tree in the Grangers back garden sway slightly. Curled underneath the apple tree, with a large book balanced precariously on her knees was a small girl. She had a mane of bushy brown hair that fell past her shoulders, warm brown eyes, overlarge front teeth and was dressed simply in shorts and a t-shirt. Beside her sat a glass of lemonade (sugar-free of course as her parents were dentists) but the girls attention was focused singularly on the book in front of her. Her eyes darted back and forth and she devoured every word hungrily, never once lifting her gaze from the page. It was only when her mother stood right in front of her to tell her lunch was ready that the girl looked up.

Her mother was a kindly woman named Susan Granger, who had worked in the dental industry for all of her adult life. There she had met her husband, David Granger. They now owned a small dental practise in the town in which they lived that saw a steady stream of patients. Both Mr and Mrs Granger were very intelligent, valuing intellect and academia. They also both had a kind and generous heart, each year choosing a different charity to donate a monthly sum to. They enjoyed their days spent off from the dental practise reading and playing card games and had enough money each year to take Hermione on a nice holiday, sometimes camping, sometimes travelling around a European country, and once even skiing. They saw their lives as ordinary and comfortable, and both felt extremely fortunate to be raising a clever daughter who they were sure would go on to do great things.

On this warm, sunny day in Hermione's summer holidays, Susan and David Granger were both at home, having taken annual leave from work to spend time with their daughter. The family of three were sitting down together to a lunch of soup and homemade bread when a sharp tap came from the front door.

"I'll go see who it is" said Mr Granger, standing at once and striding into the hallway.

Hermione barely looked up from her book, which she had brought with her to the kitchen table to read over lunch, engrossed as she was. Mrs Granger however, put down her spoon and furrowed her brow as she heard her husbands voice floating down the hall, sounding uncertain and surprised. Finally two sets of footsteps echoed towards them and Mr Granger re-entered the room, followed closely by a woman. Hermione finally looked up to see the woman was tall, with her hair drawn back in tight bun and square spectacles sitting atop the bridge of her nose. She was older than Hermione's parents, with slight lines around her eyes and on her forehead. Her clothes were plain but functional, a dark green skirt and black blouse. Her gaze met Hermione's and lingered for a moment, gazing at her with some interest.

"Susan, Hermione, this is Mrs … sorry Professor McGonogall" her father said with a slightly apologetic glance towards the woman "She's here to talk to us about Hermione's schooling arrangements."

Mrs Granger stood at once and leant over to shake the woman's hand "So you're a teacher at KingsWood then?" she asked as she let go of the older woman's hand.

"No" said the stranger, giving a tiny smile to Mrs Granger "I'm not from KingsWood, I'm from a different school, named Hogwarts, I'm here to offer a place at this school to Hermione, if she'd like to attend"

Mr and Mrs Granger both looked confused at this and Hermione gave a startled look to the stranger as well.

"But we didn't apply to any school called Hogwarts, we just sent in an application to KingsWood and they accepted immediately" replied Mr Granger.

Professor McGonogall didn't reply immediately, instead she swept another searching gaze over Hermione, as if looking for something.

"I wonder if we could sit down, so we could talk properly" Said Professor McGonogall slowly.

Mrs Granger replied at once "Of course, we've been quite rude, we'll all take a seat in the lounge to talk, would you like a cup of tea?"

"That would be lovely" Replied Professor McGonogall, allowing Mr Granger to lead her out of the kitchen and into the Grangers sitting room.

It was a good sized room, painted a cheerful shade of light blue and dotted with bookcases and shelves. The room contained one large squashy sofa and two slightly less comfortable armchairs. Professor McGonogall chose one of these armchairs and settled herself in it, looking poised. Mr Granger sat down on the sofa and Hermione, who had followed the two of them into the room, sat next to him. Nobody spoke until Mrs Granger entered the room carrying a tray with tea things for all of them and settled it on to the coffee table.

"Thank you" murmured Professor McGonogall, leaning over to add a drop of milk to her cup.

There was another pause whilst the Grangers all helped themselves to cups and Hermione could feel a slight tension billowing in the room. Finally Mr Granger broke the silence.

"So you said you'd come to talk about schooling, we've never even heard of a place called 'Hogwarts' let alone applied for Hermione to go there"

Professor McGonogall took a small sip from her cup and regarded the Grangers over the rim, focussing again on Hermione.

"Hogwarts is not a school that children apply to" She replied finally "The students are … hand picked because they possess certain special abilities that other children do not have"

There was another pause

"Well we know Hermione is extremely clever, is that the special ability she's been chosen for" Queried Mrs Granger, looking confused.

"Not exactly, I'm sure Miss Granger is a very intelligent girl but that is not the reason she was chosen" Professor McGonogall paused again and took a breath, looking for the first time, slightly nervous "Miss Granger is a witch, and Hogwarts is a school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That's why Hermione has been picked to attend"

There followed the longest pause yet. Hermione cocked her head to the side and regarded the stranger very curiously. Finally Mr Granger let out a long, low whistle and said;

"That was good, very funny. Who sent you to come and pull this then?"

Professor McGonogall ignored him and instead kept her eyes focussed solely on Hermione's

"Miss Granger, I want to ask you, have you ever felt that odd things happened to you, or those around you when you felt angry or scared. Things you couldn't explain"

Hermione gazed back at the Professor, transfixed. Unlike her father who was scoffing next to her, or her mother who was shaking her head. Hermione kept very still and immediately the memories started flooding back to her. Tommy and the vomit when he'd made fun of her teeth. Maisy and her hair falling out when she'd embarrassed Hermione in front of the whole school. And there where other instances too. All these rushed through Hermione's mind eye and she finally opened her mouth to speak;

"Yes" she replied, her voice very quiet "Yes odd things have happened sometimes"

Hermione wasn't often one to have stayed so quiet up until this point. In fact it had often been commented that Hermione spoke too much, that she was so knowledgeable about things meant she often talked even when no-one was listening to her. But since this stranger had entered the house Hermione had felt slightly uneasy and had kept very quiet up until the previous sentence she had spoken.

Professor McGonogall nodded as if in approval to Hermione's words and drew out from the sleeve of her blouse a long thin object made of wood. It looked, unless Hermione was very much mistaken, like a magic wand which Hermione had read about it quite a few books. Her father was still muttering under her breath about preposterous jokes and upon spying the wand in Professor McGonogall's hand said loudly;

"what's that? … I think you should leave now, this is a cruel joke to be playing on a child"

Professor McGonogall again ignored him and pointed the wand at the stack of cards which had been sitting on the coffee table. Only last night Mr Granger and Hermione had been playing a good game of gin, which Hermione had lost. The stack of cards now floated into the air above the coffee table and started to shuffle themselves in almost a lazy way. Mr Granger let out a word which he very rarely uttered, especially in Hermione's presence and Mrs Granger's eyes grew very round and she let out an odd groan. Hermione also looked shocked, but in a very odd way she wasn't overly surprised, it was if she had been expecting this, maybe she'd been expecting this for years.

"so … so you're a witch … a real-life witch … and you can do … magic" Hermione faltered many times, gazing intensely at Professor McGonogall.

"Yes Miss Granger, I am a witch, as are you. You too once you have learned to harness your powers will also be able to perform magic" She replied.

There was yet another pause around the room, then;

"so this … this is real" breathed Mrs Granger, finally looking away from the playing cards and into the face of Professor McGonogall.

"This is indeed as real as the sofa you are currently sitting on" Said Professor McGonogall, her thin lips turning slightly upwards into a small smile. "would you like me to tell you a bit about Hogwarts?" she asked Hermione.

Hermione nodded eagerly.

"Very well, Hogwarts is a school that teaches the majority of witches and wizards in Britain. It is situated in Scotland and it is, to use a muggle term, a boarding school"

"what's a muggle?" asked Hermione very quickly.

"A muggle is a word for someone who is not magic" Answered Professor McGonogall.

"So" Said Mr Granger, slowly sitting forward "we're muggles" he gestured to himself and Mrs Granger.

Professor McGonogall bowed her head "indeed"

'Then why is Hermione a witch?" asked Mrs Granger. "is it completely random"

"It can be" replied Professor McGonogall "but magic is more commonly a hereditary trait, passed down from parents to children. Hermione is what's known as 'muggle-born' that is to say a witch born to muggle parents. It is not uncommon, there will be one or two others in her year group of the same heritage"

Both Mr and Mrs Granger turned to look very curiously at Hermione, and Hermione had the strangest desire to laugh.

"As I was saying," Continued Professor McGonogall "students live at Hogwarts during term-time and learn a variety of magical subjects; transfiguration, charms, potions, defence against the dark arts, herbology, astronomy and history of magic. They will also learn the basic technique of broomstick riding"

At this Mrs Granger gave a shuddery laugh and shook her heard as if trying to clear her ears of water.

"Why have we never heard of witches or wizards then" said Mr Granger suddenly "How can this be something that no … muggle was it … knows about?"

Professor McGonogall shifted in her seat slightly and took another sip of her tea "Many years ago Wizards and Witches had to go into hiding from muggles because of persecution. The 'witch-hunts' you will have most probably learnt about in history were real and damaging consequences of wizards being with open with their magic in front of muggles. It was decided for the safety of everyone that wizards would go into hiding and co-exist peacefully alongside muggles"

Mr Granger looked slightly stunned at this but nodded slowly.

"So Miss Granger," Said Professor McGonogall, turning once more to Hermione "What do you think, would you like to join Hogwarts?"

It was an abrupt question. Hermione chewed her bottom lip, her brain working very fast to process all the new information. "Do I get a choice?" she asked curiously.

Professor McGonogall raised her eyebrows, slightly surprised "Of course you do, we do not force anyone to attend Hogwarts, although it is the only way you will learn to control your magical abilities."

Hermione had a sudden vision of attending Hogwarts. Although she had no idea what the school looked like her mind filled with an image of her, for the first time in her life, having friends. Maybe this was why she had struggled so much to forge any relationships with her peers, perhaps this could finally be an opportunity for her to meet people who shared her interests and intellect, who would enjoy learning as much as she did. She would share meal-times and dormitories with people who she could laugh and talk with. This beautiful image was still floating in her minds eye as she focussed on Professor McGonogall and said;

"Yes, I'd like to attend Hogwarts."

Hello and welcome to my story. This is the first chapter of Missing Moments which will be a large collection of one-shots of all the missing moments from Hermione from Philosophers stone to Deathly Hallows. They'll mostly be focussing on Ron-Hermione missing moments but I also want to add others that will include Hermione and Ginny, her parents, Mcgonogall, Harry and Krum. Some of these story ideas have been floating around my head for over a decade and I'm going to try to finally satisfy all those little gaps in Hermione's story that have always fascinated me.

This chapter is more of proper first story chapter than a one-shot but I wanted to it to set up Hermione's character in my writing style and introduce you all to her parents who will feature a lot.

Anyway I hope you liked this a please leave a review x