"First years follow me please!" Hermione called out over the sea of black hats. Ron stood beside her looking at the floor.
"Ron, please," she whispered to him.
"I don't know how to do this kind of thing, you're doing a great job on your own, I'll just walk behind you and make sure we don't lose any on the way." Hermione rolled her eyes, but smirked against her will.
"This way please!" she called out again.
Once she was certain that all the first years had gotten the message, she turned and began making her way up the marble staircase. Most of them were chatting excitedly to one another, examining, in awe, their shiny new Gryffindor badges and ties. They really were tiny, Hermione thought, turning to see Ron towering over them.
She felt a small tap on her wrist and looked down at one of the first years who had caught up to walk beside her. She had chocolate colored ringlets that fell just passed her ears, some of which were pulled messily back away from her face with a small, red clip. She had the biggest, brown eyes Hermione had ever seen and was missing two teeth. Hermione smiled down at the girl who grinned back at her.
"So, can you do all kinds of magic then?" She asked. Hermione looked at her questioningly. "I mean, you're in sixth year? Right? So you must know loads of magic already." Hermione smiled and said "I know some, yeah. What's your name?"
"Charlotte."
"It's nice to meet you Charlotte. I'm Hermione."
"I know. You told us that before." Charlotte fell back in the line a ways and Hermione didn't see her again until she gave the password into the Gryffindor common room and all of the new student piled in, looking in awe at the roaring fire and the giant windows looking out over the grounds. Hermione smiled when she saw Charlotte standing on her tiptoes to see out of the windows and tried to recall how small she had felt when she had first come into this room.
Later that night, Hermione tucked her truck under her bed and folded her clothes on her chair. Lavender and Parvati were giggling about a boy that Lavender had met over the summer and Hermione couldn't be bothered to join in, so she opened one of her new textbooks and began devouring each word. A knock came on the door, but Hermione was too consumed in her book to hear it. Not until she heard Lavender say "wait, who are you?" did Hermione look up to see Charlotte standing in the door way, her hand clutching a single piece of parchment and her eyes swimming with unshed tears.
"Charlotte!" Hermione stood up and walked over to the girl, kneeling down in front of her so that she was at eye level. "Charlotte, what happened? Are you okay?" Charlotte glanced nervously at Lavender and Parvati, who had gone back to their conversation, and shook her head so that a few curls fell into her face. Brushing them away, Hermione took Charlotte's hand and led her out of the dormitory and into the empty washroom. Finally alone with Hermione, Charlotte gave a small gasp and began to cry. Hermione knelt down once more and pulled the crying girl into a hug.
"Shhh… shhhh.. sweetheart, what happened?"
"I want to go home 'Mione!" she gasped between sobs.
"Home?" Charlotte nodded into her shoulder and Hermione brought her hand to Charlotte's head and began running her fingers through her curls.
"Why do you want to go home?"
"I don't kn- now! It's stupid. I shouldn't be! I'm eleven years old. I shouldn't be…" she trailed off. "But everything's changing so fast and I don't even know how much to believe. I mean, how can I be a witch Hermione? I'm just some girl!" Hermione had frozen. "Didn't you know that you were a witch before you got your letter?" Charlotte shook her head. "So, your parents are muggles." Charlotte stopped crying and looked at Hermione with huge, wet eyes "Is it bad if they are?" "Oh no! Oh, God no." said Hermione pulling Charlotte back in to her. "My parents are muggles too." "Oh, good." She took a few deep breaths but didn't let go of Hermione who could feel her hand gripping a fistful of Hermione's robes. Hermione rubbed circles on Charlotte's back until she had stopped crying.
"I miss them so much and it's only the first night." Hermione pulled away from the girl so she could look into her eyes.
"It gets easier, Charlotte. The first few days are always the hardest. But that's why I'm here, and professor McGonagall too, and all of the other girls in your dormitory, I bet they're all pretty scared and homesick too."
"Do you think so?"
"Maybe." Hermione lifted Charlotte to sit on the edge of the sink and wiped her tear stained face with a wet cloth.
"And, I can tell you stuff?"
"Absolutely."