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When Hermione had woken up that morning, she hadn’t really expected anything different to happen. It seemed like it would be just like any other day at Hogwarts. You see, it was the beginning of November, and nothing really happened then. They’d dodged a bullet and nothing happened during the typical Halloween disaster period. And it was still long enough before Christmas that they were in the clear.
This was the dull months of the year where it was a pretty safe bet to say that nothing would happen. Hermione had gotten up that morning expecting that she could go to breakfast, read a book and catch up on her homework – and by catch up she really means get ahead. Harry and Ron were (for once) doing their own work and not getting themselves into trouble, so she was pretty confident in being able to complete her day incident free.
All was going well, that is until the owl’s started coming in. She was reading a particularly large and heavy book on the history of the British magical community when an owl landed right in front of her, being careful not to disturb or damage anything on the table. It was the owl that she typically sent her letters home with. She rarely received any letter back since her parents were somewhat uncomfortable with the owl, but she received gifts and cards on holidays without fail anyway. The person who sent things periodically throughout the year was her little sister.
That’s right, Hermione was not an only child like in the canon. No she had a younger sibling who unfortunately, did not receive a letter of acceptance from Hogwarts. She was the only one in the family with the magical gift. Her sister had been a bit put out, but she got over it quickly enough. She sent letter every now and then, so it wasn’t that unusual to have an owl drop off a letter. Even if it was a somewhat rare occurrence.
But that was as far as the normal went. When she removed the letters – there was multiple, that was already weird – she noticed that one was a bright red. She vaguely remembered Ron receiving a letter like this many years back and having it scream at him. It had been quite the spectacle. But her family was non magical, so they couldn’t send a howler. And even if they did she couldn’t remember doing anything that would deserve a howler. She got good grades! After convincing herself it would be fine, she carefully opened the seal on the red letter, completely oblivious to the many eyes that were focused on her.
As soon as she popped the wax seal, the letter came to life and formed a very feminine yet aggressive mouth. Hermione’s eyes widened as the mouth opened wide in preparation to full out scream. She dreaded to find out what it was going to say, but it was too late to move away now. Everyone waited with baited breaths as they stared intently at the floating paper mouth. Hermione Granger got a howler! This was unprecedented!
“WHAT TEAM?” the letter demanded. Hermione froze in shock. Really? Really? She couldn’t believe her sister would do this.
Seeing the lack of recognition on most of her housemates’ faces, Hermione thought that that would be it. But then suddenly a single Slytherin stood up and was soon followed by dozens of students from other houses. Then as one, they all cried, “WILDCATS” at the top of their lungs. Hermione buried her head in her hands. The purebloods all looked confused but there was some dawning realization on the half-bloods’ faces. Soon enough, the ruckus returned to a dull roar. Then Hermione proceeded to open the second normal letter and then proceeded to facepalm.
Dear Hermione,
I hope this letter finds you in good health and that you’re having fun at Pigfarts. I also hope that you enjoyed my lovely surprise letter. Cool isn’t it? Now you may be wondering how I was able to send a ‘howler’ as it seems to be called. Well I ‘owled’ Mrs. Weasley – whom we all know will soon be your mother in law, stop denying your feelings – and she was all too eager to agree to enchant the letter for me. In exchange for a rubber duck of all things. Wizards are weird.
Anyway, you might be wondering why I chose this particular phrase to scream. Well, my school is putting on a performance of High School Musical and I got Sharpay! I was hoping that you’d be able to come see me… I await your response.
Yours truly,
Your beloved sister!
Hermione face plants in her book. How were they related???