It was a cold autumn day when Hermione decided to finally become the rebel everyone wished she was. Her now shoulder length dark brown hair billowed around her pale face and chocolate eyes. She stared down the forest, hugging her red pea coat tightly to her torso as to not let any of the wind in. Mind racing, she finally took the first step towards the dark forest that had been labeled as forbidden. Hermione bit down on her lower lip and dug the soles of her sneakers into the yellowing grass of the school grounds. If she were a muggle like her parents she would be sitting calmly in a too small room packed with too many students. Although, she would be in the AP classes like she always was. Too smart for regular classes. She could still hear Roger Davies voice in the back of her head telling her that she wasn't adventurous enough. Boring old Granger, he had called her.

Boring? She thought to herself, I am most certainly not boring.

Taking the first step into the Forbidden Forest was just the first step in her plan to prove him wrong. All the other Ravenclaws besides Luna Lovegood had chanted at her her first year. But this was fifth year and she hadn't said or done anything to stop them in their acts of hate towards her. Sure, she may be a bit of a know-it-all but wasn't the point of Ravenclaw? To be intelligent?

"Look who it is, Harry," Draco's snobbish voice called out to him, "it's Weaslby and his ugly girlfriend."

Ever since Harry had made the decision to take him up on his offer to be friends, Draco was consistently making snide comments about the Weasley kids. But it didn't just stop there, it was his friends too. Harry didn't mind these antics one bit as long as he got to sit back and watch the show.

"Oi, Draco," he called for him, "what do you think of Granger over there by the Forest?"

This had become a sort of game for them throughout the years. They would single out girls in their class and grade them based on appearance. It seemed odd how they hadn't singled out Hermione Granger yet. They had gone through almost the entire Ravenclaw house all but her and Looney Lovegood.

Draco tilted his head to the side as if considering her for a bit, "Hmm, she's an odd one she is," he said in thought, "Better give her a four at the most. She's got a nice little figure but have to take off some points for being a mudblood."

"Yeah, thought so," Harry said in wonderment.

Ron tried his best to ignore the snide comment Malfoy had made about him and Lavender as they passed him and Potter in the Great Hall. For five years it had been this way. Ron's father had been certain that The Boy Who Lived would have been placed in Gryffindor like him and the rest of his family. But he wasn't. Harry Potter had been sorted into Slytherin where all the dark witches and wizards go. Next thing you know he'll be given the Dark Mark and help to revive the very same man who had killed his parents. Vile thing he was. Ron couldn't even look at him.

"Relax, Ronnie," Lavender cooed to him using the nickname she favored.

"I'm trying, Lavender."

But he wasn't. Ron's ears were beginning to turn red as he thought about all the great things that Potter could have done in Gryffindor. All the things what would be destroyed.

"It's not his fault he wasn't sorted right," Lavender tried to get through to him again.

She was the only one who could ever get through to him.

"I know, I know."