A giant ruby steam engine towered before Hermione, and excitement rose in her chest. Vapor filled the air of Platform 9¾, giving everything an ethereal quality. Hermione had to yell above the chatter of people and effusion of steam to talk to her parents behind her. Whipping her head back, she gave her parents two huge hugs.
"I'm going to miss you guys so much," she said loudly "I wish my friends were here so you could meet them- I don't know where they are."
"It's fine honey," Hermione's mom soothed, "I'm sure you'll find them." Hermione gave her mother a final squeeze, drinking in the cinnamon-and-flour smell of home.
"Now write us as much as you need. We love you, and remember, if anything happens we're always here." Hermione's dad told her, smiling warmly as he squeezed his only daughter's hand. Hermione grabbed her heavy trunk, and gave her parents a final grin before stepping up onto the train.
The aisle was full of students talking, laughing, and greeting each other. It was warm, and Hermione could barely hear over the sound of excited chatter. She slid the heavy door to a compartment aside, and stepped in. It was empty, and the windows faced the masses of people still on the platform. With a grunt, Hermione shoved her luggage under a seat, turned a crank on the window, and pushed it open.
"Mom, Dad!" she yelled, finding the faces of her parents in the crowd. She began waving frantically, and they smiled. A tremor of excitement and anxiety jolted Hermione's chest as the train lurched forward with a loud hissing noise. Slowly, it began to pick up speed, and Hermione's mother jogged forward, clutching her purse tightly.
"Have fun honey!" Mrs. Granger called, "We love you!" And with that, the people disappeared as the Hogwarts Express left the station. Hermione exhaled, not realizing she had been holding her breath, and pulled the window shut with a clunk. Her compartment quickly became very quiet, but she could still hear muffled yells and discussion from her neighbors. Ron and Harry are probably looking for me right now, she thought to herself, watching anxiously as people passed her compartment. Within a minute, the trolley witch appeared at Hermione's seat, and Hermione opened the door for her.
"Hello dear, would you like something from the trolley?"
"Um, yes," Hermione replied, racking her brain for Ron and Harry's favorite candy "I'll take three chocolate frogs, a pack of Drooble's, some Bertie Botts, and three pumpkin juices."
"Here you are, dear," the witch said and handed Hermione the treats "That will be six sickles honey." Hermione reached into her wallet, counted six sickles in the palm of her hand, and gave it to the trolley witch.
"Have a nice day!" the witch sing-songed before pushing the cart away. Closing the door behind her, Hermione spread the candy out evenly. Placing a chocolate frog and Bertie Botts each for Ron and Harry, along with their pumpkin juices, Hermione sat down in her own seat. She opened her pumpkin juice and took a sip, enjoying its cool temperature. I wonder if there's a spell for that, Hermione mused and watched the rolling hills go by. The sky was cornflower blue, with big puffy clouds floating lazily along. For a split second, Hermione thought she saw something large vanish behind a cumulous, but wrote it off as a shadow.
Minutes later, Harry and Ron still hadn't appeared. They might have found another compartment, I should look for them, Hermione realized. She stood up and opened the door, pumpkin juice in hand. A few students were in the aisle, moving from one area to another. Hermione checked the compartment to her right, where four Ravenclaw girls were playing exploding snap, and laughing loudly as a blonde one tried a Bertie Botts bean. Wait, if Ron and Harry were in another compartment they'd look for me, Hermione realized as a long-haired Ravenclaw noticed her staring at them, and nudged her companions. Hermione smiled awkwardly, and one of them smiled in return, before she slipped back into her compartment.
They are probably looking for me right now, Hermione repeated to herself, and she put her legs up on her double seat so she could face the window. Capping the pumpkin juice, Hermione popped a piece of gum in her mouth and began to reread Hogwarts, A History, glancing at the door window every couple minutes, expecting a beaming freckled face and a smirking bespectacled one. Hermione reached "Inspired Architecture and Original Maps", and glanced at her watch. An entire hour had passed. They should have found her by now.
She slammed the book shut and stood up, peering out the window. The aisles were completely empty. Hermione yanked a cord and dropped the blind over the door window. Images flashed through her head, Ron and Harry laughing with the Lavender and Parvati, perhaps. Those two girls would giggle at anything the boys said. Or maybe Ron and Harry were in a room with Oliver and the twins, discussing Quidditch terms Hermione knew nothing about.
You're so stupid Hermione. Why would they want to hang out with you? All you do is nag and correct them. No one likes you. I bet they're laughing about how glad they are that they ditched you. They're probably relieved you didn't come looking for them. How did you convince yourself they wanted to be your friend again? You have no redeeming qualities. You are ugly, and annoying, and too smart. I wonder how they could stand a whole year with you.
Tears were burning her eyes now, hot and stinging. She grabbed a pack of Bertie Botts and threw it at the wall, where it opened. Multicolor beans spilled everywhere, bouncing on the ground and rolling under the seats. Hermione stomped once in frustration, and heard the chatter in the compartment adjacent to her's stop. She kicked the beans until they disappeared under the seats, and slumped into the cushion.
The scenarios she had visualized earlier that day seemed so stupid now. She had imagined that they would all be laughing constantly, and the boys would be riveted as she described her new book. Ron would tell her that sweater looked pretty on her, and Harry would laugh. How dense are you Hermione?
Silent sobs shook her as she sat across from two piles of candy, designated to friends that never came.