On the deserted side of the scarlet Hogwarts Express sat a bushy haired girl slightly better looking than "cute" in between a raven haired teen and a gangly redhead, expertly mediating another argument over the Chudley Cannons' lack of skill.
"Harry, you can't be serious! The Cannon's are going to go all the way this year, I just know it. You have to have faith, mate. The year you don't believe is the year they—"
"The year they what, Ron? The year they finish last? Oh wait, they haven't NOT finished last in a century, and yet you still support them? Get a new team, one that won't disappoint you year after year. I'm tired of pretending not to catch you crying after they announce the new record of a losing streak."
The girl, determing that this may have just gone too far, quickly intervened and in such a way so that neither of the two boys even knew she had done it on purpose. "Oh, Ron, look it's almost time. We need to change into our robes and go meet the other prefects once we arrive at the station. Quickly, we only have about ten minutes. I'm Head Girl and need to be there before anyone else. I'd like to get there before Malfoy so that I have at least some semblance of authority instead of being that girl who hides behind the ferret."
Harry rolled his eyes so high he seemed to be trying to see the scar on his own forehead. "Seriously, Hermione? Is that really how you think the rest of the school perceives you?"
The ginger ducked out into the hallway with a pile of robes under his arm. "Well Harry, I know that they see me as a brain, and a friend of yours, but—"
"An integral part of my team, you mean." He interrupted abruptly, causing her to lose her train of thought for a moment as she got caught in the warmth of his vividly green eyes.
Shaking her head to clear it of such nonsensical thoughts, she amended, "YOU may see it that way, but we're talking of how others perceive me, not you. And they see me as your homework do-er. I just know it. I hear those awful girls whispering about me, and I can hear what they say, despite what they may think." She slumped back onto the comfortable seat, dejected. "Oh Harry, this is my chance to let the school know that I am more than just a smarty know-it-all."
Sensing that this had turned into a serious conversation and that his best friend was very vulnerable at this time, he treaded cautiously. "Hermione, look at me." She bravely met his eyes a few seconds later, a look of determination mixed in with the chocolate brown. "They will see. Not just now, but later when you are saving the world through potions and spells you'll create. I may be destined to save the world through killing another human, well—hopefully, but you are destined to save it through kindness and generosity. I know of no one who has those things more than you. I have complete faith in you. You're my best friend in the world, you and Ron."
This was the most stunning speech Harry had ever given Hermione, and to say she was shocked was like saying a troll was ugly, or that a troll was smelly. She got up, and nodded at him to convey that she understood and would not let him down, then followed the gangly boy out into the hallway to change into her robes.
Harry breathed a shaky sigh of relief. That could have gone much worse. I think I actually handled that right for once. He played with his wand, causing sparks to shoot out in odd arrangements until his two companions joined him again to exit the train together for the last time.
The train's breaks squealed louder than that pig of a mother all those Weasley bastards come from. The screeching reached Draco's ears and drowned out the litany his girlfriend Pansy was vomiting up of all the reasons she thought they should break up. Like he cared, Draco was only with her to throw off suspicion—to hide behind the pug the real Draco Malfoy.
Sadly the train came to a stop and the temporary mute affixiated on Parkinson's unproportional mouth lifted, and he realized with chagrin that she had only gotten louder to compensate for the disturbance, and was now screaming quite loudly, allowing the compartments adjacent to hear her final words, "AND YOU NEVER WANT TO TOUCH ME THERE ANYMORE!"
Draco hung his head in embarrassment, realizing that the entire school would hear about this before the Sorting, thanks to the inconvenient placing of Lavender Brown, notorious gossip extraordinaire, in said compartment on the other side of the wall. She'll be relentless, that one. Damn.
Pansy took this moment, confusing his mortification with sorrow and self-righteously stormed out, thinking her dignity intact and not realizing that she had been his façade anyway. Maybe it wasn't fair that he hid behind her, using her as a front so that his father would be fooled into thinking Draco was an adamant follower of the Dark Lord. The blonde boy knew that if his father caught any whiff of insubordination, that he would murder him personally and not even bring Voldemort into the equation. The fear of his father's wrath drove Draco into doing something he swore he would rather die than do: he would ask Dumbledore for help.
My how the world changes when you aren't paying attention, he thought bitterly to himself. Draco sat in the compartment, bereft, awaiting another school year, conscious of all the changes that would affect this last year, and wondering idly just how vastly different his year as Head Boy would be.
Ginny Weasley peered out the window, smiling widely at returning to Hogwarts. She could feel the anticipation in her gaze as she sneaked a look over at the three inseparable best friends across from her. The thestral-pulled carriage rocked heavily, jarring her up against Neville's recently turned hard body. They were almost there, and she was about to faint from excitement. Sure, she had classes and the loathsome Snape to contend with, but she would take the any day over the endless days filled with absolutely nothing to do and absolutely nobody to do it with. While her brothers and Harry and Hermione were considered old enough to help with the Order, she was cast off to the side and made to stay at home with a revolving babysitter for the entire summer. Usually it was her dad or mom, but occasionally Remus would drop by when the moon wasn't full. Lycanthropy is a bitch.
But now all that ennui was gone and replaced with an excitement to be returning to her second home, to be learning things that would help the Order when she was finally deemed old enough to help. She could have been helping this summer, but every time she opened her mouth to protest, she was met with a silencing charm from her dear brother Ronald who swore he was helping her by charming the walls to charm her if she went to complain. Perhaps he was helping, because just last week Molly Weasley had dropped by on her way to her next mission to have a heart to heart with her only daughter.
"Ginny, dear, I just wanted to tell you how proud I am that you are finally growing into the young woman I knew you would be. Truly, I thought at the outset of summer, that you would whine and complain about not being able to help, but you accepted our decision with aplomb and I am overjoyed to see you blossoming into the young woman I see before me now."
Ginny had just stared at her in shock, she was not mature, she was angry as hell! This was all her stupid brother's fault. Now her parents would expect her to behave like this all the time. Darn it.
Still staring out the window, she thought back on it. Well, it could have been worse. Ron could have been hitting me with Giddiness Charms, and then they would have just thought I'd gone mad and sent me to St. Mungo's. Just then a particularly big bump in the road caused the carriage to jump about three feet in the air, and Ginny found herself unceremoniously splayed across the lap of one Neville Longbottom. Catching his eye as he went to help her, she truly looked at him for the first time since her third year when he took her to the Yule Ball. Correction: Splayed across one very hot Neville Longbottom's lap.
The Gryffindor table had not changed much since the last time Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville had sat around it. The summer months had not changed the atmosphere, with the exception of missing a few faces, and gaining newer younger ones.
Harry and Ron were re-living a particularly funny prank the twins had played on Hermione, to her embarrassment, while Neville who had not heard it before doubled over laughing, and was mildly spraying pumpkin juice out of his mouth. Ginny chuckled mildly, remembering the look on Hermione's face when the older realized that her book was sprouting out incorrect facts on Quidditch. Even funnier was her face when she remembered that she had been trying to impress Harry and Ron with her newfound knowledge, and they knew she had been telling them the wrong things.
Ah, priceless. Ginny thought and peered over to see her face now. Bright red. Ginny noticed that Harry had stopped teasing Hermione and was conscientious of her rising mortification. He was doing damage control and attempting to steer the conversation away from the prank, not that Ron noticed. Ginny's oblivious brother continued to hoot and howl, not noticing that the other teens at the table had stopped.
At this moment the feast officially ended, and all eyes looked up to the front table to hear the notorious Headmaster Dumbledore give his Welcoming Speech. As Ginny was scanning the crowd, her eye caught Malfoy. He was sitting alone at one end of the Slytherin table and for once he did not have a smirk on his face. The boy who was infamous for his hatred of Dumbledore, who in fact tried (and failed) to kill the Headmaster last year, was looking up at him with reverence and respect in his eyes. Ginny turned to the others in bewilderment and caught Hermione's eye. The older girl nodded and looked over at Malfoy, then back to Ginny. Her brows scrunched in confusion then set in a determined mold. Her eyes told Ginny that they would discuss the implications of this later.
Ginny could not wait.