Chapter One: The Start

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

As a muggle born, I am thought to be less smart than the average student. I had no knowledge of the wizarding world beforehand, and when I first received my Hogwarts letter, I almost didn't believe it. It seemed to be fake, for magic doesn't exist to muggles, but to me, anything is possible.

I hugged myself tighter and shivered as the cool fall air whipped around me. The wind was starting to get frantic as it viciously attacked people's hats, coats, and kissed their lips. I couldn't wait. I have finally gotten out of my stuffy private school filled with girls who are only there because of their family's money, and could remember soley makeup facts and not a single maths equation. As an only child, I was left to fend myself off from mean girls who had it out for me since day one. Over time, I learned how to bottle up emotions, and always seem happy and pleased, never sad. I wish I could say I've experienced rejection in my life, but I have always worked so hard that failure is rare. I'm sure it can't be that bad.

I walk to the platform alone. After taking me on a very confusing journey through a place called Hogsmeade, my parents dropped me off and then went into their office. They saw this Hogwarts as a new boarding school and thought nothing of it. I look at my ticket, it says Platform 9 ¾. Odd, but I'm not discouraged. I find platforms 9 and 10, and see a wall where ¾ would be. I knock on the wall and press on it but I don't feel anything abnormal. I then see a boy about my age with pale-blonde hair. It was a striking color, but the boy who it lay upon seemed to be a good match for it. He seemed a contemplating type, not a very outgoing person but once he spoke he was confident. He stood up straight and understood what was going around him, never looking confused. He was with his father, same hair and demeanor. They stood about three meters from the wall, stood a few strides forward and disappeared.

Interesting, I thought. You must be deliberately running at the wall to go through, which makes sense because then people couldn't accidentally go through who weren't supposed to. I shook my head at the world of magic and braced myself for a possible humiliating moment. I ran straight through the wall, and ran out onto a new station, with people of all looks. Funny, in the muggle world, people are divided by what they look like, here, it seems to be a more class-based system. I could see, in one area, people with tattered robes and books with clear seams on the bindings to indicate that they were already used. In other places, people with robes that fit them perfectly, and beautiful animals, which are apparently necessary. I got a cat. I was debating between a cat and an owl, but the cat seemed better in case I needed someone for comfort. I named her Calypso [Ka-LIP-so], after the nymph in Greek Mythology who was trapped on the island Ogygia. I saw many sleek owls and cats, and over the sea of colors in this crowd, I saw the blonde hair again. He was definitely my age, I could tell by the almost perfectly concealed wonder on his face. As the train rolled to a stop, he boarded and took a seat by the window facing the platform. I decided this was someone I should get to know, so I boarded the train, patted my ponytail to make sure it was still perfectly intact, and went into the compartment where he sat.

"Hi!" I said giving him a warm smile, "my name is Hermione, and I was wondering if I could sit here for the train ride". He glanced up, shrugged, and then went back to staring out the window. Naturally, I took this as a yes. I placed my luggage down and sat across from him.

He looked at me, briefly so that it wasn't awkward but long enough for him to be able to recognize me if he saw me in a crowd.

"Draco Malfoy,"

I shook his extended hand. His pale skin was misleading, his hands were warm. They were thin but they were delicate in the way a pianist's fingers may be delicate, not breakable but nimble enough to be able to leap from key to key.

"Hermione Granger"

This was a boy who knew what he was doing in the world, and I had no interest in screwing up my own reputation. Not yet, anyway.

Thank you! Sorry that it was a bit on the short side, I'll try to do longer in the future.

With love,

battleships