Chapter one

"Hermione dear! Your Hogwarts letters have arrived!" yelled Mrs. Granger.

As soon as her mother had pronounced the words, Hermione ran out of her room and flung down the stairs, nearly knocking her father down, with such speed she could've won the Olympics. She snatched the letter out of her mother's hands and opened the envelope, then quickly scanned the pages. The two first pages were the usual: her welcome letter along with the list of the books she will be needing for her seventh year. However, the third one caught her attention, because it wasn't her normal prefect letter, even though it came with a badge. At the first few words, a frown started to form, but it only lasted a quarter of a second, because after that, with every word she read, her eyes and smile widened. It read:

Dear Hermione Jane Granger,

We're sorry and proud to announce to you that you will not be maintaining your prefect tasks this year, due to the fact that you have been selected as this year's head girl! Our selection concerning the decision has been based on academic results, as well as comportment, after school involvement, trustworthiness and last but not least responsibility.

Thanks to this title, you will be taking advantage, of a privet common room, compartment and bathroom shared with the head boy.

Congratulations on the title,

Professor M. McGonagall

P.S: Meet me the Hogwarts Express in the head's compartments at 10a.m. on the 5th of September to discuss further your responsibilities, obtain the password to your common room, and finally meet the head boy.

By the time she finished the letter, tears of joy were running down her cheeks while she vigorously hugged both her parents. Before she knew it, she was practically skipping to her room to owl Harry and Ron the good news, and let them know she was going to join them to at the burrow 3 days before school started, which meant in two days in order to go school supply shopping on Diagon Alley. While writing the letters, she debated on whether or not she should tell them about her new, altered appearance, but decided not to ruin the surprise.

Hermione had changed allot over the summer. Due to the tragic events that occurred in her 6th year, with Dumbledore's death, she decided to boost her moral and take on the world with brand new confidence. Her hair was no longer bushy, but cascaded down her back in loose, sleek, elegant curls, with straight perfectly trimmed bangs parted at the sides. She also got rid of her icky brown hair color and replaced it with a deep wine color with reddish lowlights. Her skin had cleared up from all her stress related acne and also lost its yellowish tint due to the lack of sun exposure because of her excessive studying , only to reveal a flawless, delicate skin as soft as a baby's bottom. She got her braces removed ( her parents convinced her to get her teeth fixed the muggle way, with only a touch of magic to make the teeth move faster so they'd be fixed before the first school day) and her teeth whitened. However, her hair, skin and teeth, weren't the only things that changed, she had lost some of weight and her body turned out perfectly sculpted with all the right curves at the right places.

Hermione woke up in the crimson and gold bed sheets she had gotten last year for her birthday from Harry. They were damp in sweat and to top it all, her head was pounding because of her lack of sleep, which was caused by the excitement bought by the thought of seeing her friends the next day. She lay in bed for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out if she should magically heal her head ache or not, before finally heading to the bathroom cabinet and grab a pain relief medicine. She looked at herself in the mirror only to find her hair terribly messy: her bangs were all tangled and out of place, the loose bun on top of her head was falling apart and the curls it was supposed to hold were sticking out in every directions. She sight to her reflection, turned on the shower, undressed and stepped into it, letting the sensation of cool water and the sent of lavender wake up her senses.

After showering, she straighten her bangs, parting them at the sides (as usual) and curled the rest of her hair before putting it in a tight ponytail at the top of her head. She though of putting on some light make-up, but decided not to push the shock of her new appearance any further and causing Harry and Ron a heart attack. She smiled at the thought of her friends blushing furiously the way they did when pretty girls were around, only this time, she'd be the girl causing such a reaction.

Stepping out of the bathroom, she took a quick look at the clock that was hanging on the wall of the hallway, its arrows pointed at 10:37. Knowing she had to be at the portkey station at 11:30, and it took about 30 minutes to get there from her house, she knew she had about 20 minutes to get dressed, make sure she had packed everything in her trunks and put crookshrank in his cage. She walked into her room, opened her closet and slipped on a pair of dark jeans, and the nice spaghetti strapped red tang top Ginny Weasley, her best friend gave her. She walked over to the mirror, checked her self out and decided that the red tang top was way too revealing for her taste, so decided to put over it a black Adidas zip up sweater with red rims that showed off her wine hair color and creamy pale complexion. Much better, I might have a different appearance, but inside, am still the good old "know-it-all Granger" she though with a sight. Once dressed, she walked over to her trunk to make sure she indeed had everything. In it, were about two dozens of quills, five books, to enjoy at the Burrow, about 15 cute muggle outfits, her toothbrush, some make up, perfume, a couple jewelries and accessories and pictures of her family. Although it seemed she had everything, Hermione couldn't help having the feeling that she had forgotten something. She double checked but still, she couldn't put her finger on it.

" Hermione! If you don't want to be late, then you better get down here pretty soon!" yelled her father

"Alright am coming in a second!" As she got up and started levitating her trunk along with Crookshrank's cage, something shiny sticking out from under the bed caught her eye, she reached down and took it in her hands. It was a thin, gold, neckless with a white amulet in the middle of it. She looked at it curiously for a while before realizing it was the emotion tagger Madame Pomfrey had offered her the year before. After watching Hermione go through so many shocks and emotional tragedies, the midi-witch decided the last thing the poor girl needed was to feel more confused about her feelings. The way the amulet worked was simple, the person pressed it against his or her heart and the amulet would change colors according to the emotion the user is feeling and the closer the person to whom the emotion was directed to was, the more the color would glow. After a couple of minutes, something in Hermione's head clicked that's it she thought I forgot to pack the amulet! Glad of her realization, she quickly placed the amulet in her trunk along with the papers that explained which color was for which emotion, an rushed downstairs with her stuff to find her waiting parents ready to go.