After the washing up, Hermione returned to her blank sheet of paper to work out a plan. Since her mum had told her that nothing had been published (and her mum ought to know, she was mum after all), that meant any sort of normal background research was out of the question. Hermione reached for one of her nice black pens and started:

31 August 1989

Things I know:

* There have been reports of telekinesis, but attempts to follow up on them have never led to anything that is taken seriously. The idea is apparently taken seriously enough that scientists try to follow up though.

* Matilda is able to lift small objects and move them around in a controlled manner.

* The source of Matilda's power is potentially the brain power that is not being used because she is far more brilliant than her classmates. She seems to lose the power when she gets advanced by several grades and is actually challenged.

* Matilda feels heat and pressure in her eyes while using her telekinesis.

* Matilda finds that telekinesis gets easier with practice.

* That book that I couldn't reach seemed to jump into my hand last year.

* I think the eraser moved in class today.

* I seem to feel a tingling in my arm rather than heat and pressure in my eyes.

Hermione stopped and read over her list. She couldn't think of anything else that belonged on it right then, but that didn't mean it was definitely complete. She set the page off to the side and grabbed a clean sheet:

31 August 1989

Hypothesis: Hermione Granger has some sort of telekinetic powers similar to Matilda's.

There were lots of other things that she wanted to put in the hypothesis as well regarding what exactly she could do and where the ability came from, but if there were too many things all at once she would not be able to test it. She reminded herself to slow down and take things one step at a time.

Relevant observation: I think I managed to make an eraser move in class today. I don't know exactly how long it took, but it was definitely less than 5 minutes.

Plan: Recreate the scenario from class as best I can in my room.

Supplies: Chair, Eraser, Me

Experimental Procedure:

1. Place the eraser on the floor one meter in front of the chair.

2. Set watch timer for 5 minutes. (so I'm not constantly checking the time and being distracted)

3. Sit in the chair, point at the eraser and focus entirely on wanting it to float until either the eraser moves or 5 minutes are up.

Hermione considered her procedure briefly and nodded. That should do for a first experiment. She took her ruler and eraser and carefully placed the eraser in its proper position. She sat back down in the chair, took her watch off, set the alarm, started it and placed it on the desk. Hermione took a few seconds with her eyes closed to center herself and push away the nervous excitement that had been building since she started designing her experiment. Once her mind was clear, she opened her eyes, pointed at the eraser and focused. All of her attention was on wanting the eraser to float. After a little bit she found herself quietly chanting "Float, float, float..."

Hermione felt a tingle start in her chest and grow out and down her arm. Time seemed to stand still – she had no idea how quickly or slowly the tingle was traveling – as she continued to focus on the eraser. She felt her heart rate increase as the eraser started to slightly vibrate and then drift up before she suddenly found herself gasping for breath as the eraser tumbled back to the ground. Hermione found herself caught in the kind of exhaustion that comes at the very end of an adrenaline rush. With a huge grin and shaky hand she turned back to her desk as the watch alarm went off.

Trial 1:

The tingle started in my chest and grew along my arm before the eraser moved. I estimate that it lifted about 10 centimeters from the ground before I lost control. At this point my heart was racing and I was breathing heavily. The 5 minute timer went off while I was recovering.

Conclusion: Some form of telekinesis exists (!). More experiments necessary.

Notes for future experiments:

1. Get someone else (mum or dad, if I can get them to take it seriously – this might have to wait until I have more data) to time things (both how long it takes to start floating and how long it stays in the air).

2. Devise a way to measure how high the eraser has floated.

3. Explore both getting more height and maintaining a lower height for longer.

4. Find a way to monitor heart rate... Is it related to the telekinesis or just excitement?

Hermione briefly considered doing a second trial right then, but decided against it when she realized that while she was just as exhausted as she was keyed up. Instead she went over to her bedside table and picked up Great Expectations. When she had realized that Matilda's first "grown up novel" was one she hadn't read, Hermione promptly stopped by the school library to check it out. She was annoyed to discover that she couldn't find it and when she asked the librarian she was told that it was a higher reading level than most of what was available in the school library. When she related this story to her mum, Mrs. Granger had been more than happy to stop by the public library the next day to pick it up for her. It was both significantly longer than Matilda and slower reading, so she was only about half way through. She didn't think the story was going to go down as one of her favorites (not that she could have picked out favorites anyway), but she was enjoying it well enough. She had spent about twenty minutes curled up reading when her dad knocked on the door frame and poked his head in. "Hi Pumpkin!"

Hermione looked up with a grin, and responded "Hi Daddy!" while she tucked her bookmark in place and then jumped up to give him a hug. "Has Mum given you dinner yet?"

Mr. Granger smiled, "I think she is reheating it right now. I had to come see if my girl wanted to come keep me company while I ate." Hermione often came and sat with whichever parent worked late to chat and tell them about her day. In any other household the child probably would have used that opportunity to have dessert while their parent ate dinner, but Hermione's parents were dentists and sugary food was a very rare treat. She did, however, sometimes have a piece of fruit or cheese and crackers as a snack.

Hermione laughed, "Of course, Daddy!" and followed him back down stairs. She liked the nights when everyone was home to have dinner as a family, but Hermione also treasured these nights when dinner was split. It meant that she had individual time to talk with each of her parents and, as much as she loved both of them, there were definitely times that it was easier to talk to one than the other.

Once they were settled at the table, Hermione with a plate of apple slices and her dad with leftovers from dinner, Mr. Granger asked his daughter how her day went.

"My actual class was just as boring as normal today," Hermione started, even though that wasn't quite true, "but today is Thursday so we had maths club at lunch." She then proceeded to tell her father all about the interesting problem she had been working on when the lunch bell rang. "But it ended up being ok, because I finished the book early during independent reading and then used that extra time to finish working the maths problem out in my head. Speaking of which, Daddy, is there any chance you could drop me off a school a little early tomorrow? I want to talk to Ms. Tanar about what I should read next during independent reading time."

Mr. Granger nodded "Sure, Pumpkin." When Hermione didn't jump in to continue telling him about her day, he asked, "Have you tried anything new with your Chemistry set or from your Physics textbook?"

Hermione pursed her lips as she quickly thought about how to answer. While Mum was scientifically minded, she was also a fellow bookworm and always happy to make sure Hermione had something new to read. Daddy, on the other hand, was the one who really encouraged her scientific explorations. "Well, not exactly … you see, I have this … idea … which might just be silly, but it also might be really interesting. I haven't decided exactly how I want to go about it. I do think it is likely to be a long term project though, and I really want to prove to myself that I can come up with a reasonable plan on my own." She gave her father a tentative look, hoping that would satisfy him for now and keep him from prying. She wasn't quite ready to admit her discovery to him.

Mr. Granger raised his eyebrows. It wasn't like his daughter to hide her science experiments from him. "Well, as long as you are certain that whatever you are working on isn't dangerous, I suppose that's fine. If you decide you want any help, I would be happy to work with you though."

Hermione nodded earnestly, "I promise not to do anything dangerous, and, assuming it doesn't just turn out to be silly, I will ask you to help later – I just want to get it started first." She paused as a sudden thought occurred to her. "It would probably be useful to have another notebook though, or … maybe a journal?" she added hopefully.

Mr. Granger burst out laughing. "Is that a hint for a birthday present or are you hoping to have it sooner than that?"

Hermione thought about that for a minute. "I certainly wouldn't mind having it now, it could be quite useful, but it could also make a good birthday present." Then, ever the practical child, she concluded "Is there any chance I could get it as an early birthday present? I would be happy to count it as part of my birthday but this way I could also go ahead and start using it for my investigation."

At this, Mrs. Granger stuck her head in the dining room. "Your father and I will discuss that possibility later. We'll see."

Hermione looked between her parents and saw her dad pretending to look serious but also trying hard not to laugh. She smiled and winked at her father before making her own attempt at a serious face, turning and responding, "Yes, Mum. Whatever you decide." Sometime very soon she would have her journal.

That night, Hermione dreamed that she had taken the place of Micky in Fantasia. It started out as a lovely dream – she had control of her telekinesis and could make the brooms and mops dance around. Unfortunately, as in the animated film, things quickly got out of hand and she woke up with her heart racing just as she was sure a wave was going to knock her into the swirling water. Hermione shuddered at the thought that her experiments could get that out of hand. She quietly got up, went to her desk and added one more note to her experimental record before going back to bed.

5. Had a nightmare about Micky and Fantasia. Make sure to be very careful not to push things too far too fast and let them get out of control.

In addition to just being a good idea, she had promised Daddy that she wouldn't do anything dangerous.