The incident at the library

As Hermione swung the bag on her shoulder it crashed squarely with Piova, knocking off the pile of books she was carrying. It took a moment for Hermione to realize what she had done. Tears flooded her eyes as she stood shell-shocked. Harry, Ron, and the other students in the library were transfixed, apprehensive; but not quite sure of what they were expecting.

Piova merely collected the books with a subtle twirl of her wand. Her lips barely curled, but her eyes gleamed in a warm, affectionate, smile as she ruffled Hermione’s hairs and said, ‘No harm done, everything is fine.’ As she walked on, Hermione was the first to recover and she blurted out, ‘Thank you… Sorry…’. Piova turned, her lips were now curled in a smile and she gently nodded in acknowledgment and appreciation.

The whole library simultaneously broke into a gentle murmur, to be silenced by the shrill ‘Silence’ from Madam Pince. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurriedly got out. It was Ron who spoke first, ‘I’m going to kill Fred & George’. Harry and Hermione gave him a quizzical look that asked the relevance of the Wesley twins with the event that had happened few minutes ago.

So Ron explained how Fred & George had convinced him that Piova is known as the White Witch because she loves to curse, hex, and jinx the junior students for the slightest of misdemeanors. Little did he know that his brothers were the only ones at Hogwarts who could poke fun at or about Piova. ‘I can’t believe you believed such nonsense’, Hermione confidently declared. Ron gave an embarrassed shrug, all the snippets Fred & George had fed him about Hogwarts had so far proved to be utter nonsense.

Harry was looking at the distant figure of Piova walking on. His mind was conflicted. Ever since he saw Piova during the sorting ceremony, a part of him was in awe of her. But the other part constantly screeched ‘She is a Slytherin, She is a Slytherin’.

Hermione, on the other hand, looked like someone who had found irrevocable proof about something she believed. She had started to idolize Piova in just her handful of days at Hogwarts. Piova being the best student in the recent time of Hogwarts definitely helped, but there were feelings Hermione couldn’t quite figure out. Had she not known Harry and Ron’s deep disgust for Slytherins and had she not been unwilling to risk her budding friendship with them, she might have reached out to Piova.

Piova meanwhile was oblivious to the commotion she had caused. While she was an austere person, much like Professor McGonagall, and demanded a certain amount of discipline from her fellow students, she never had to raise her wand to achieve that; her formidable and even foreboding personality always did the trick. She may not be a welcoming type, but she was never harsh, let alone mean, to the juniors.

In certain circles among the Slytherins there was lingering doubt that the Sorting Hat might have messed up. But it wasn’t her fault that the abundance of talent meant that any means she employed for success were all perfectly noble ones. And successful she was. Even in these early years, she was well on course to match her illustrious grandfather and uncle. Little did anyone knew that her sights were set on surpassing the achievements of the Slytherin she called Tom Riddle.