Author note (AN): Hey well this is my first fan fic so I guess if you want you could give flames, but please don't! You might hurt my feelings: ) annnyway happy thanksgiving yesterday for all you Americans and I would like to thank my mom and step dad for helping me with new names/houses although I thought of the whole history thing and the new school and well most of this story actually. Well ok now on to the story!

he he , but first the disclaimer thing.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable from the books or movies. I do own all new characters and the new school.

Enjoy!

And Then There Were Four

It was a normal day for Hermione. Well, if packing for a magic boarding school was normal then she was definitely having a normal day. As most of you reading this know, she attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with her best friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Harry was world famous, at least in the magical world, for being the "Boy Who Lived" (which means that he was attacked by the evil wizard Lord Voldemort as a baby and had lived) and her other best friend, Ron, was famous for having the largest number of children sent to Hogwarts in a single family. They had sent seven children, Ron being the sixth and his younger sister Ginny (the only daughter in the family) being the seventh. So anyway, Hermione was packing the day before her trip to King's Cross Station to catch the train to Hogwarts for her seventh and final year. She had all the assignments her teachers from last year had assigned, done and was sure that she had all the things she would need this next year packed.

It usually took Hermione about 15 minutes to get ready and it took her another 30 minutes to triple check her trunk and check in her drawers and under her bed to make sure she had everything packed and ready to go. (AN: although if she really needed to she could have her parents send her something, but you know our Hermione, she never wants to be a bother, well at least not to an authority figure, I mean she doesn't care about bothering people like Malfoy but then again she really doesn't like to start a fight ok I'm going to stop now!)

Her and her parents left for the station at about 10:40 because it took about 15 minutes to get to the station from their house and they thought that "Mione might want to talk to her friends…….and maybe some boyyyyys." This had been announced in the car to Hermione who had blushed but had also been angry with herself. She was angry because she knew that no boy, besides Harry and Ron and maybe Neville Longbottom, would want to talk to her unless they wanted homework help. Everyone knew that she was a bookworm and her bushy hair (although she had tried different hair cuts nothing seemed to help) didn't help her reputation because it appeared that she didn't even brush it, so it made people think she was more of a bookworm then she really was. And she had to admit it to herself, she was definitely a bookworm. As they pulled to a stop in front of King's Cross Station, she sighed to herself. She would definitely need to do something about her reputation to give herself some more self esteem. If only she could find someone to date, find a way to tame her hair, and a way to find some clothes that would show off her almost-bigger-than-when-she-was-fourteen-chest-area. Oh well, hopefully this would be a good year, since it was her last year. Suddenly, as they walked toward platform 9 ¾, she remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot, we're getting exchange students from America this year!" 'Six students, three boys and three girls. And as you and Mister Malfoy are the Head Boy and Head Girl, make sure after they are sorted that you two tell them everything and help them with everything. They will be spending their first night in your dormitories, if they choose, so that you can answer any questions they might have.' Hermione remembered the words in her letter very clearly this year because she didn't want to forget anything with the exchange students coming. Hogwarts honor was at stake here and she wanted the new students to be impressed. They were coming from the most prestigious school in America: Hawksmith. She started remembering what she had read about it in the many history books she read and went into a daydream sort of remembering trance. It was just like Hogwarts, except for the fact that it was in America and had a different name (although it had an animal in the name). It had an interesting history though. As soon as Salazar Slytherin left Hogwarts, because the other founders wanted muggle-borns to attend as well as wizards, he left for America to start his own school which he named Hawksmith (Ravenclaw, Hawksmith) which he secretly dedicated to his secret mistress Rowena Ravenclaw. He found three of the brightest witches and wizards in America. He found Mortisha Korment, Merlin Gildenfrost, and Anastasia Ogden (she was related to the Ogden of Ogden's fire whiskey). They wanted muggle-borns to attend their school as well, but they didn't tell Slytherin because they knew why he had left Hogwarts. They decided to be different than Hogwarts and make up the names for their houses, not after their names, but the first letter in their names in the Greek alphabet. They named them Sigma (named after the 'S' in the Greek alphabet for Slytherin), Gamma (named after the 'G' in the Greek alphabet for Gildenfrost), Kappa (named after the 'K' in the Greek alphabet for Korment), and the last house was named Omega (named after the 'O' in the Greek alphabet for Ogden). Slytherin died shortly after the school had opened (he was old by the time they started their school) and the second year that the school had been open, the school let muggle-borns enter and attend the school to learn.

Hermione got out of her little history day dream in time to hear her parents say "Ok sweetie, we're gonna go now. Don't forget to write, ok? Love ya! Ok bye." She watched her parents go and looked at her watch and realized why they had left, they thought she would want to catch up with her friends. She was thankful they had thought of it because just then she saw Harry, Ron, and Ginny and Ginny was running towards her with her arms outstretched in front of her and before Hermione knew it she was in a loving, but killing embrace. She managed to squeak out "Hi Ginny, nice to see you too." Then she noticed that Harry and Ron had stopped a few feet away and were looking past her with blank expressions on their faces. Hermione turned around to see what they were looking at.

Harryand Ron woke with a start as they realized that they had a half hour to get to King's Cross Station and they still had to get dressed, eat breakfast, and Ron still had to pack most of his things. Harry jumped out of bed and screamed at the top of his lungs (in a rather Mrs.Weasleyish way) "RONALD WEASLEY GET OUT OF THAT BED! I WANT YOU TO GET UP RIGHT NOW AND PACK YOUR STUFF! WE ARE SOOOOO LATE I DON'T WANT TO MISS THE TRAIN! And while you're at it you should probably get dressed," he said thoughtfully as he pulled a shirt over his head so that he was finally dressed and added," I'll meet you downstairs for breakfast." And with a smile, left Ron to pack for himself. Ron sat there in shock and then got up and started getting dressed, but he made sure to hurry so Harry didn't get mad again. As Harry went down the stairs to the kitchen he chuckled to himself. Ron would definitely be on his toes for a while around Harry.

Harry, Ron, and Ginny ran towards Hermione as they made it a few minutes before 11:00. Just in time for them to have a quick reunion before getting on the train. Ginny ran towards her with her arms outstretched in front of her to give Hermione a big hug, since they hadn't seen each other since the beginning of the summer when Hermione and Harry had stayed with the Weasleys for two weeks. After a moment Ginny realized that she was squeezing Hermione too hard. She stepped back so that Harry and Ron could also give Hermione a hug and realized that they were still a few feet away. Then she noticed that Harry and Ron had blank expressions on their faces and saw that they were looking past Hermione. Ginny looked around Hermione to see what they were looking at.