Chapter Summary: This deals with Hermione's train ride and what happened between the two times she entered Harry's Cabin. We also see get to see Parvati and Lavender at their finest.
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Hermione threw another set of clothes into the large trunk at the foot of her bed. She was packing to go to Hogwarts. She still had over a week before she had to go, but she was too excited to wait. She wanted to see how much she could take with her.
Throughout the weeks that followed their trip to Diagon Alley Hermione spent all of her free time reading her text books and the other books she'd gotten from Flourish and Blott's. She'd learned a great deal and even practiced a few simple spells that she'd learned from "The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1."
Hermione had also learned about what it meant to be a muggle-born witch. At first, wizard and witches with no discernable magical lineage were shunned from the wizarding world. But over the last two thousand years, that way of thinking changed considerably. Muggle/Wizard marriages were also quite common as well. She was also pleased to learn that Hogwarts, since its establishment four thousand years ago, had always accepted all magical pupils regardless of lineage and from what she read about Albus Dumbledore he was also a fan of good wizard/muggle relations. This made her feel much more comfortable about her choice of school.
Of course their were still witches and wizards out there with a much less progressive view of muggles, muggle-born wizards and witches, and muggle/wizard coupling. Hermione only hoped that now that she had a better understanding of the wizarding world, she would fit in nicely.
She also read up on Magical History. She was intrigued to find out that there had been actual magical wars fought through the years that muggles weren't even aware of. There was even a time when a master of the dark arts, Voldemort, was reeking havoc, killing wizards and muggles alike, and trying to take over. He had been brought down only ten years ago by an unlikely hero: a baby boy named Harry Potter, the only known survivor of the avada kedavra killing curse. Voldemort had tried to use this curse to kill the young boy but it simply rebounded back to him. However nobody knew if Voldemort was really dead and no one in the magical world ever spoke his name. Hermione decided against telling her parents that only ten years prior the entire magical world was in turmoil and that the man responsible for this was still rumored to be around biding his time.
She had of course read "Hogwarts: A History" several times over and now knew everything there was to know about the school, it's heritage and it's four school houses; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. She knew without a doubt that she wanted to be in Gryffindor. Dumbledore was in Gryffindor and it seemed to be the type of house for those who wanted to excel. Ravenclaw also seemed like a good fit; those in it seemed geared for studying and academics which is definitely where her father wanted her to go. But Gryffindor seemed to offer more to Hermione. It wasn't just for those who wanted to excel academically, but excel in general, take chances and really find out what they can do as a witch or wizard. That's what Hermione really wanted.
All in all, Hermione was excited to be leaving and going off to Hogwarts, away from the trauma of her earlier school years. She was finally going to be around people who were like her. She knew that if she just tried hard enough, she would be able to fit in and really be happy at the school.
The trunk was finally full. She was packed. Now all she had to do was wait. In a week and a half she would be on the way to Hogwarts and her new life.
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"Platform 9 ¾, Dear: are you sure?" Mrs. Granger asked timidly as she, her husband, and Hermione stood staring at the barrier between platform nine and platform ten at King's Cross Station. They were still confused as to why Hermione had to take a train to Hogwarts when they had already experienced the magic of instantaneous transport when they went to the summer seminar.
"I'm positive," Hermione said with a smile. She was already wearing her wizards robes. She didn't want to look out of place on the train but this did get her strange looks from some bystanders. "I read all about it in 'What the Muggle Can't See Won't Hurt Him: A Guide to Muggle Proofing in the 20th Century.' Don't worry; I'll be perfectly fine. All I have to do is walk towards the barrier and I'll pass right through. It'll work for me because I'm a witch."
Hermione stopped herself. She realized that she was talking very quickly and spouting out unimportant facts. She was definitely becoming increasingly nervous.
Mrs. Granger recognized this trait too. She smiled down at her bushy-haired daughter. "Don't worry Hermione; I'm sure everything will be okay. Go ahead. I'm guessing we won't be able to go in with you so we'll just say good-bye here."
"Thanks," She hugged both of her parents and then proceeded cautiously towards the barrier pushing the trolley with her trunk.
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A few seconds later, she was standing on platform 9 ¾ staring at the huge scarlet engine that was the Hogwarts Express. There were dozens of other students pushing trunks as large as hers and she could hear the hooting of owls echoing all around the platform. It was utterly amazing.
"Hi I'll take that for you," said a friendly attendant. He took the trolley with her trunk on it. "You'd better get on the train. It'll be leaving in a few minutes and you know those cabins fill up fast."
"Oh no," Hermione thought wildly. "I hadn't even thought of who I'm going to sit with."
Anxiety began to build as she looked around at all the little groups on the platform. It seemed like everyone already had friends. She didn't know anyone yet. What was she going to do?
Undaunted, she stepped into the train and began to look around. All of the compartment doors were closed. She walked down the narrow corridor until she finally decided to brave the unknown and open a door. To her relief, there were only two girls sitting in the compartment.
"Uh, hi, my name is Hermione Granger. Can I sit in here?" she asked timidly.
"I suppose," said one of the girls. "My name is Pansy, she's Millicent." The other girl grunted but said nothing.
Hermione gave a half grin and sat down, wondering what she had gotten herself into.
"Granger…" Pansy said slowly. "I've never heard of that wizarding family. Where are you from?"
Hermione gulped. This is what she feared most. "Uh, well my family isn't a wizarding family. See my parents are muggles. I just found out this summer that I'm a witch."
"Oooo, a mud-blood." Pansy snickered. Millicent joined in.
Hermione laughed nervously. She had no idea what the girl was talking about but she didn't want to seem like an idiot.
"I'm sure a girl of your standing would fit well in Hufflepuff," Pansy continued.
"Well, uh actually I was hoping to get into Gryffindor. I read all about the four houses in 'Hogwarts: A History' and I really think that Gryffindor would be the best fit for me. I mean, after reading about Godrick Gryffindor in 'Great Witches and Wizards of the Old Era'…" Hermione realized she was rambling again and stopped herself. "Anyway what house do you two want to be in?"
"Slytherin," Pansy answered without hesitance. "They've one the house cup the past six years. Of course I can understand why you wouldn't want to be in Slytherin. I mean, a muggle-born like you definitely belongs in Gryffindor. You'll fit right in." She started giggling again.
Hermione felt herself turning red. This definitely wasn't going well. She had been around girls like Pansy long enough to know when they were being insulting but she still had no idea what a "mud-blood" was or what she had said or done to make Pansy dislike her.
"Oh no, my stupid rambling has already gotten me in trouble," she thought. She decided to keep her mouth shut.
Thankfully, Pansy suddenly changed the subject. "I heard that Harry Potter is starting at Hogwarts this year too."
Hermione's ears perked. Harry Potter, the boy who lived, was on the Hogwarts Express. She would be going to school with a living legend. In her summer reading she had read several books that mentioned the name of the baby boy who brought down the dark lord Voldemort, but she never realized that he would be starting school the same year as her and at the same school no less.
She wondered if she would be able to meet him or even talk to him just once. He was bound to be the most popular boy in the entire school. He probably already had a ton of friends. Why would he want to associate with a stupid little nothing muggle-born witch when he was on his way to probably being the greatest wizard in the modern era? Still, just to be able to see him would be something.
Hermione let all of these thoughts float in her head as Pansy prattled on. "… and just because of some fluke when he was a baby, he'll probably get special treatment from the professors."
Hermione realized very quickly that Pansy didn't seem to like anyone. She had been around enough people like her to know that she wouldn't be making any new friends here. Millicent didn't seem to say much but judging from the way she laughed at everything Pansy said, this was definitely a lost cause. She would have given anything for an excuse to leave.
As if in answer to her silent prayers, there was a knock on the door. A round face boy stuck his head in. "Excuse me, have you seen a toad. I seem to have lost mine," he said in a sad sort of voice.
Pansy laughed again. "A toad! You brought a toad! Well I can understand why it would run away. Obviously it's ashamed of having such a stupid master to deal with."
Hermione had had just about enough of Pansy's snide remarks. "Oh shut it. I swear you don't have a descent thing to say about anyone." She stood and pulled the boy out of the cabin. "Come on, I'll help you find your toad." She gave a quick look back. "I did see two toads in here, but they're both too ugly and foul tempered to be yours," and with that she left.
"I can't believe that girl," Hermione mumbled furiously. "Thinking she's better than everyone else. Well I'll show her. I may not be from a 'wizarding family' but I'm just as much a witch as she is." She suddenly remembered that she was dragging the round face boy with her and he looked extremely confused. "Oh I'm sorry. Those two just made me so mad. My name is Hermione Granger."
"Neville Longbottom," the boy said. "Nice to meet you. Thanks for helping me find Trevor."
"Who?"
"My toad," he reminded her.
"Oh right," Hermione was still fuming over the incident. It had put her in a terrible mood. "Well I guess we better get started then." She headed for another compartment door and slid the door open not hearing Neville's protests of, "but I just tried there."
Inside the compartment were two boys, one with glasses and straight black hair that seemed to go all over the place and another with flaming red hair who was holding a wand.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one." She still had a trace of irritation in her voice as a residual from her encounter with Pansy.
"We've already told him we haven't seen it," the red headed boy said with a matching tone of irritation.
But Hermione didn't really hear him because her attention was immediately drawn to the wand in the boy's hand. Obviously the boy was doing magic. This was the perfect opportunity to see how real wizards did magic. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then." She sat down.
The red headed boy hesitated but then started in confidently saying "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid fat rat yellow."
"Right," thought Hermione. "Now this boy's making fun of me too. Like I'm supposed to believe that was a spell. Do I have muggle-born stamped on my forehead or something? How can everyone tell? Maybe it's my teeth."
Hermione decided to show the boy that she wasn't as stupid as she must look. "Are you sure that's a real spell?" she started, giving him a "you must be an idiot" look. "Well it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all," she added with satisfaction. "It was ever-such a surprised when I got my letter but I was ever-so pleased of course. I mean it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard. I've learned all are course books by heart, of course. I just hope it will be enough. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. Who are you?"
She realized all too late that instead of gloating her nervousness had kicked in once again and she was rambling, practically spilling out all of her insecurities to these perfect strangers.
"Hermione, shut up, just shut up for once. At this rate you'll never make any friends." Judging by the look on the boy's face she was right. He obviously thought she was an insane muggle girl who needed to be sent home. She chanced a look at the other boy in the moment of silence. She couldn't read his expression as clearly but she felt like she was being drawn into his green eyes. "He's kind of cute. Maybe if I dig myself out of this hole I could…"
"I'm Ron Weasley," the red headed one said, interrupting her thoughts.
"Harry Potter," said the other boy.
Hermione felt faint. She was glad she was sitting down. She had just made a complete and utter fool of herself in front of the one person on the entire train that really mattered. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, that could put her in this boy's good graces but she soon regretted it as she heard herself talk.
"Are you really?" she started with fake surprise. "I know all about you of course. I got a few extra books for background reading and you're in 'Modern Magical History' and 'The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts' and 'Great Wizarding events of the 20th Century.'"
"Am I?" Harry asked, looking dazed.
At first, Hermione thought he too was making fun of her. "Of course he knows all of this. It is him after all. I'm so stupid." But something in his green eyes, she couldn't stop staring at them, told her that he was genuinely clueless. He wasn't making fun of her.
Hermione opened her mouth again to try and start a real dialogue with him. "Goodness, you didn't know? I'd have found out everything I could if it was me. Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor. It sounds by far the best. I hear Dumbledore himself was in it. But I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad."
"Rambling… rambling!" Hermione screamed silently to herself.
"Anyway we better go look for Neville's toad," she said finding her escape.
Neville still stood silently in the doorway.
"You two had better change. You know, I expect we'll be there soon." She backed out of the door and closed it before turning around and collapsing against the wall.
"I am so stupid," she muttered to herself. Neville had already become occupied with searching for his toad again and was a few feet away from her now. "Why does that always happen to me when I'm nervous? I just made an idiot of myself in front of Harry Potter. Why me?"
She thought about her encounter with Harry Potter while she continued to help Neville in his search. He wasn't quite what she had expected. She had imagined Harry Potter as a braggart who wouldn't have anything to do with a witch or wizard who wasn't as skilled as he was. The boy she met was quiet, almost pensive.
But then again, there was that red headed kid, Ron. He definitely had an ego problem. If that was the kind of person the famous Harry Potter hung out with, there was no chance for someone like her to get close to him.
"Oh well," she thought. "I'm sure I can make other friends."
At one point, Hermione decided to take a detour to the front of the train to find the conductor. They were approaching the castle. The thought of actually being able to see Hogwarts for the first time made her stomach jump.
"Hey, give him back!" Hermione heard Neville shout.
She snapped out of her thoughts and saw that down the hall, some taller boys were gathered around Neville. They were tossing something around, a toad.
"What are you doing? Give that back to him," she said as she ran down the corridor to face the bullies.
"Oh and what are you going to do about it." One of the boys said, smirking at her.
"Nothing," another boy answered for her. "She's just a stupid little first year."
With that, he grabbed the toad and started racing down the corridor. The others followed, screaming and shouting all the way.
Hermione gritted her teeth. "Stupid little first year am I?" She pulled out her wand. Her temper was rising. She had had enough of all of the teasing and torment that this trip had brought her. She raised her wand and muttered a few choice words. Immediately a stream of blue fire flew from her wand to the boy with the toad.
He was so shocked that he dropped Trevor. "What the…" His robe caught on fire and he ran off to extinguish himself. His friends followed laughing.
Neville took off after the toad. "Trevor, come back here."
There was more chaos in the corridor as several more people went running by her in all directions. Hermione found herself once again in the threshold of Harry and Ron's compartment. She didn't really know how she had gotten there again but one look at the mess in the compartment told her something was amiss.
"What has been going on?" she asked concerned.
But the red headed boy, Ron, ignored her seemingly more concerned about a rat than her question. He started talking to Harry as if she weren't even there.
It was then that she realized that she hated this boy. At least Pansy had the decency to be rude to her openly. Ron was the limit. He acted like she didn't even exist and he treated her like a moron. Since he was obviously Harry's close friend, Hermione knew there was know way she could ever make friends with him either.
She turned to look at Harry, and found once again that she was trapped by his eyes. Something about them just seemed… different. His expression always seemed innocent and pure, but then why did he keep such horrid company?
"Can we help you with something?" Ron asked impatiently, snapping Hermione out of her thoughts. She realized that she had been standing there, staring like an idiot for several minutes.
"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on," she said with an equal tone of impatience. "I've just been up to the front to as the conductor and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there." "And it'll serve you right," she added silently.
"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Ron retorted. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"
Hermione returned the scowl. This had by far been the worst trip of her life. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and slap Ron but instead she left saying, "Alright. I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors. And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way. Did you know?" She added with a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
"Stupid git," she added mentally to herself.
The train was slowing and as she started down the corridor to find another compartment to sit in, she made a vow to herself. She was going to be the best. There wouldn't be a witch or wizard at Hogwarts that could touch her. She would show them all: Pansy, Millicent, Ron, all of the stupid people she'd met so far. They'd rule the day they teased this muggle-born witch.
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Reading it in a book was nothing like experiencing it for herself in real life. Standing there, in front of the entire school for the sorting ritual was by far the worst form of torture she had experienced all day.
All she could do to calm her nerves was continuously cycle through all the spells she had memorized over the summer and hope that having all of this knowledge would trick the sorting hat into thinking she was a fully fledged witch and not a muggle-born. Then she'd have a chance of getting her wish and becoming a part of Gryffindor. So tricking a hat that could read your mind wasn't exactly the best plan in the world, but it was the only one she could come up with.
"Gryffindor!" the sorting hat shouted and the sandy haired boy, Seamus Finnigan, rushed off to the Gryffindor table. So far he was the second Gryffindor to be named. Lavender Brown was the first, and if Hermione wasn't mistaken the next name that would be called would be…
"Granger, Hermione." Professor McGonagall's voice cut through her thoughts.
Hermione practically ran to the stool and jammed the sorting hat on her head.
"You don't honestly think I'm that gullible," said a voice in her ear. "I wasn't enchanted yesterday, you know."
Hermione was very confused. She hadn't expected the hat to actually be able to talk to her.
"Of course I know you're a muggle-born and that doesn't really matter. I see you have everything it takes to meet your hearts desire, so I'll grant your wish and send you to… Gryffindor!" Hermione was about to take the hat off and go to her chosen table when she heard another whisper from the hat. "Be yourself, Hermione and you'll get all of your heart's desires."
She took off the sorting hat, wondering how much of her insecurities the hat had gotten into. Trying not to think of it, she went to the table and sat beside the house prefect.
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Later, during dinner, Hermione learned that the house prefect that she was sitting beside was an older brother of that horrible boy Ron. Apparently he had three of them, all in Gryffindor. But unlike Ron, Percy the prefect was extremely kind to her and as eager about studying as she was. She was actually able to have a descent conversation with the fifth-year student.
"Hopefully I'll meet more people like him," she thought to herself. Even though Percy wouldn't be in any of the same classes as her, at least he was in the same house and that meant there was at least one person so far she knew she could talk to; even if he was the brother of that vile Ron Weasley. Hermione had scanned the entire room but she never did see the red-headed girl, Anne, she had met earlier that summer. She guessed she had gone to another school.
On the other side of Percy was none other than Harry Potter. He too had made it into Gryffindor, along with his lapdog Ron.
She noted that once again, he didn't say much. Why was that boy so quiet? Was it that he didn't associate with the "little people" choosing to let Ron talk for him? Was it that he had something he was hiding? No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't get any sort of reading on the boy.
Professor Dumbledore was standing now. Hermione turned her attention to the high table to listen as he gave a few announcements.
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As it turned out, Hermione only had two roommates, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. They seemed nice enough, but far too girly for Hermione's taste. All they seemed to know how to do was giggle. It was clear these two would become the best of friends, what wasn't clear was if Hermione would be able to fit in too.
"Why does everything feel like it's a test," Hermione thought to herself as she walked into her room and sat on the bed that had her trunk at the foot of it.
"This place is amazing!" Lavender squealed as she plopped down on her bed.
"Yeah, it's so beautiful," Parvati added as she entered. "I wonder what Padma's dormitory is like."
"I can't believe you two are in different houses. That's so weird, you're twins."
"Yeah I know but I guess we're different in our own way," Parvati said. "It would have been cool having her here though."
Lavender examined the curtains around her bed. "This place has everything."
"I love the subtle magic everywhere," Hermione added. "The candles automatically light at night. Almost all the paintings were done by Sanderson Selvington, one of the greatest wizard painters of the old era. Then there are the magical corridors that were enchanted by Godrick Gryffindor himself as another way to teach students of Hogwarts how to use their environment to their advantage. Did you know that if you know the right charms, you can go anywhere in the castle in a matter of minutes by making the halls and stairs shift to where you want. There must be over fifty secret rooms here."
Lavender and Parvati were staring at her. "Whoa, where did you get all of that from?" Lavender asked.
"Hogwarts: A History." Hermione answered knowingly. She was beginning to wonder if anyone else in the entire school had ever read the book. How could you go to a school that you didn't know anything about?
Lavender bounced lightly on her four-poster. "So do you know any charms that could get us over to the boy's dormitories?" she asked with a giggle. "I wonder what there rooms are like."
Hermione didn't have an answer to that.
"I just want to know what Harry's dorm is like," Parvati added. "Can you believe he's actually in our house? I could just die."
"He's going to be the most famous wizard at Hogwarts," Lavender said dreamily.
"Do you think he already has a girlfriend?" Parvati asked.
"A little too soon to be thinking about that," Hermione said with more disdain than she had intended. "You don't even know the boy."
"I can get to know him," Parvati said with a slight sulk.
"I'm not sure about that," Hermione said as she fell back on her bed exhausted. "He doesn't talk much. He lets that Ron kid do all the talking for him, I've noticed. He barely said a whole sentence to me when I met him."
"You met him!" Lavender and Parvati both jumped on Hermione's bed now. "What was he like?" Lavender asked.
"What did he say?" Parvati pressed.
"Pretty much nothing," Hermione said, shocked at their response. "Like I said, that rat, Ron Weasley did most of the talking. You'd think they were joined at the hip or something." Maybe her disdain for Ron was a little out of hand.
"That's weird." Lavender had a rare pensive look on her face. "I heard Harry Potter had to live with muggles all his life away from the wizarding world. How would he know the Weasley family?"
"Really?" Hermione had never known that. None of the books that talked about Harry Potter mentioned that he went to live with muggles. It sort of made sense though since both of his parents died. Maybe his only living relatives were muggles.
"So he's just like me. He grew up never knowing about his powers or anything about the wizarding world." Hermione realized she and the famous Harry Potter actually had a lot in common. She thought back to the haunting look that she had seen in his eyes on the train. Maybe, he was just as lost and confused and scared about this new world as she was. Maybe he just latched on to the first person that was nice to him and that's why he's friends with Ron. If only she could find a way to talk to him.
"I'll bet you I can get him to talk to me first." Parvati was telling Lavender. They were still on Hermione's bed.
"Oh please," Hermione said with a huff as she sat up again. "He's not a prize to be won. He's just a boy like everyone else. It's stupid to just go throwing yourself at him."
Parvati gave Hermione a brief look of disdain but then her smile returned. "Well I guess we know you won't be any competition."
"I've got other things to worry about," Hermione said in a half mutter as she collapsed on her bed again. "I mean this is a school isn't it."
She didn't have time to worry about Harry Potter, or her ditzy roommates. She had a school to conquer. It was time to show Hogwarts what she was made of.