FLASHBACK- 1st year

Hermione Jean Granger walked through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her new schoolbooks were tucked under her arm and her long, bushy, brown hair flowed behind her as she hurried to her next class, A History of Magic. Too excited to pay attention to where she was in the hallway, she slammed into someone. She fell to the ground and looked up. She found herself staring into a pair of cold gray eyes. He had angular features and fine blonde, almost white hair slicked back on to his head. Judging by the green striped tie, he was in Slytherin. Hermione had heard a lot about Slytherin House and none of it was very good.

"Get out of my way Gryffindor." He strutted by her as if he owned the school while someone else stopped to help her up.

"Thanks." Hermione said. "And who are you?"

"I'm Ron Weasley, and this is Harry Potter. We're n Gryffindor too. Where's your next class?" He was a friendly red head with cheerful blue eyes, while Harry was black haired with astonishing almond shaped green eyes.

"Hello!" Harry said cheerfully.

"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. I'm going to A History of Magic. Is it true that a ghost actually teaches the class?"

"That's what all of my older brothers said. We're going there too. We can walk together!" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione brushed off her robes and looked into the eyes of her new best friends.

"Let's go."

It was 7th year now. Hermione wasn't the awkward 11 year old anymore. Her figure had filled out, she had gotten taller, and her unruly mess of brown frizz was now soft, bronze colored ringlets. She didn't have large front teeth anymore, thanks to that incident with Malfoy in her 4th year. And now her two best friends had gone searching for Voldemort's horcruxes, so they could finally kill him once and for all. She considered it extremely lucky to hear from them at all. At least she wasn't completely alone at Hogwarts. She had Ginny Weasley, Ron's younger and only sister, who was her best girl friend. Then there was Luna Lovegood, though quite odd, could be an amazing friend when you needed it most. And there was Neville Longbottom. Neville was….Well, he was Neville. Hermione rested her head against the cool glass of the window thinking about the boys and who the head boy might be. Maybe it would be a nice Ravenclaw or someone that she could be friends with. When she got her letter with her badge in it, she was excited, but not at all surprised. She wasn't the brightest witch of her generation for nothing.

"Hermione?" Ginny's voice jerked her out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"We're nearly there; you should put on your robes." Neville left the compartment to go change while the girls started pulling robes and ties out of their trunks.

"Oh. Okay then." Hermione said as she closed her book that she had been pretending to read and started pulling her robes on. She pinned her Head Girl badge on the front of her robes and closed her trunk. The train slowed to a stop and they all got off and went to the carriages. The carriage bumped along the road and the great castle was looming in the distance. Hermione gazed out the window and thought about her best friends. Where were they? What were they doing right now? Were they safe? Were they currently inches away from death as they battled Voldemort or his Death Eaters? She felt a tear about to trickle down her face, but she wiped her eye before it could go anywhere. She missed her friends, anyone could see that, and she was worried. As they stepped out of the carriages she saw many surprised faces and sneers. Hermione faintly heard things such as this:

"Where's the rest of the 'Golden Trio'?"

"Did the Mudblood get plastic surgery?"

"Why aren't Potty and Weasel glued to her side?"

Eventually they made it through the crowd and got up to the great hall. Luna said goodbye and went to go sit at the Ravenclaw table while Hermione, Ginny, and Neville went to the Gryffindor table and sat down, ready to eat and hear what Professor Dumbledore had to say this year. All of a sudden the golden plates set before them filled with food and everyone started eating. Everyone was too busy to notice that Hermione wasn't eating, and had her head resting on the table. She thought no one would see the silent tears, but she was wrong. There was another student who wasn't eating, and he saw those tears fall down her face, but he didn't care. He put on his usual smirk and started to talk to his best friend Blaise Zabini, who was sitting next to him at the Slytherin table.

When the students had eaten their fill, Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands and the golden plates were cleared and sparkling.

"Can I have your attention? I have a couple of important announcements to make. To all our new students, welcome, to all of our returning students, welcome back. The forbidden forest is, like it says, forbidden. Mr. Filch has added to the list of rules and restrictions, which I believe is now at 837. He advises you to look at them. The Head Girl for this year is Hermione Granger from Gryffindor." Everyone except the Slytherin table clapped.

"And the Head Boy is Draco Malfoy from Slytherin." Only the Slytherin table was clapping now, but it was so loud, it sounded like everyone in Hogwarts was clapping. Hermione was in shock. Why would Dumbledore pick that ferret? She thought she had heard the worst news, but then Dumbledore started speaking again.

"Prefects will lead the students to their common rooms, and I need for the Head Boy and the Head Girl to stay in the Great Hall after everyone leaves so I can discuss certain matters with you both. Everyone off to bed!"

Hermione was awestruck. She slowly made her way up to Dumbledore, thinking it couldn't get any worse. But she was wrong.