Hermione exited the Hogwarts Express with a sigh of relief. There were two reasons for Hermione's strong wish to return to Hogwarts, her home, as soon as possible. One of those reasons being that Hogwarts was indeed her home. Nowhere else could she be surrounded by so many brilliant professors who cared as much for her education as she did. The amount of knowledge that she could obtain was infinite. The second reason for her speedy exit from the train went by the name of Ronald Weasley. Ron (being such a bright wizard) could hear nothing more clearly than the call of his stomach. Claiming that he was in "starvation mode", Ron snatched a bag of "chocolate frogs" out of Fred Weasley's clever hands right before boarding the train. The supposed "candies" were in fact another one of Fred and George's "inventions". Ron had been a sickly shade of green and horrendously gassy the entire train ride.

There was of course the third reason for Hermione's anxiety to return to Hogwarts. She tried not to acknowledge this reason. However, as she entered her sixth year of school, she could ignore the reality no longer. Lord Voldemort had grown increasingly more powerful as the acceptance of his "return" spread throughout the wizarding world. Harry was even more anxious than Hermione. His inability to relax greatly worried her. Ron, on the other hand, was either so daft to the situation that he felt no anxiety at all, or he was excellent at concealing his fear. At least at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was there to keep everyone (especially Harry) safe. However, this thought wasn't as comforting as it normally was to Hermione. Things were going to change this year; Hermione could feel it with her whole being.

Hermione, still in deep thought, made her way to the self-drawn carriages. The year before, Luna Lovegood had explained how the carriages were actually not self-drawn, and were in fact drawn by a magical being seen only by those who have witnessed death. Hermione believed in nothing that her eyes couldn't behold for themselves though, so she continued to refer to the carriages as self-drawn.

Hermione eventually found a suitable carriage, and waved over Ron and Harry, and offered a seat in their carriage to a displaced Neville Longbottom as well. Before the carriage began its journey to the magical castle, Hermione saw Draco Malfoy and his group of idiots causing a commotion nearby. Crabbe was insistently questioning Luna about her sanity as Draco and Goyle snickered nearby. Hermione tapped Harry and pointed to Draco and his gang. Before Harry could properly react though, Neville had leaped out of the carriage and took off in the direction of Luna.

"B-b-back of Malfoy!" Neville said quite bravely for one as cautious as he.

Malfoy took one look at Neville and put on his world-famous smirk. Neville began shaking slightly at the sight of the smirk, but he stood his ground. Malfoy stared Neville down for a few moments longer, than snapped at Crabbe and Goyle as a signal for their exit from the scene. Neville put his arm around Luna comfortingly (although she seemed completely unfazed by what had just occurred) and murmured encouraging words such as "don't let them get to you" and "my Gran calls me loony and clumsy all the time! It's a show of affection nowadays, ya kno?" Neville made room for Luna in their carriage, and the group of five finally began the journey to the castle- their safe haven.

Once in the Great Hall, Hermione realized just how hungry she was. She eagerly chomped through two plates of chicken, peas, and mashed potatoes. She began to lose her appetite though as she realized that the topic of discussion for the Gryffindor table was the death of Sirius Black. She looked across the table to see that Harry was as stiff as stone with a blank and cold expression spread across his face. Before Hermione could say anything to him though, Dumbledore stood to speak.

The revered grand wizard gave his normal welcoming speech, and laid down the common restrictions of the castle. Where he would normally end his speech though, he continued by saying that he had two important announcements.

"In light of our previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's failure to return to Hogwarts this year," Hermione could of sworn she saw the light of laughter twinkle in his eyes as he said that, "we have appointed a new teacher to take her place. Professor Severus Snape is now the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

Several gasps of horror were heard throughout the Great Hall from every table except for Slytherin's. Many Slytherins gave each other high fives and let out exuberant exclaims. Looking over at her friends, Hermione could have sworn that Ron was about to be sick all over again. And just when she thought that Harry could not have become any tenser, he did. Hermione almost put her head down on the table in defeat at the thought of the hell this year was going to be with Snape as the new DADA teacher.

"The second announcement," Dumbledore nearly roared in order to rise over the loud laments of his students, "is that in light of the turmoil of the current events in our world," he solemnly stated, referring to Voldemort's powerful return, "we will have a new addition to our school's traditions. Instead just having Head Boy, Head Girl, and prefects, we will have Neck Girl and Neck Boy. These two students are selected from the sixth year class, and are the top male and female of their class. They will dorm with the Head Boy and Head Girl, and will have similar duties and responsibilities."

The Great Hall fell silent as all the students and faculty stared at Dumbledore in mixed awe and fear. Some were amazed that Dumbledore was able to say the ridiculous names of the new "additions to the tradition" without cracking a smile or feeling embarrassed. Others feared that Dumbledore had finally lost the last bit of sanity that he had so dearly held onto.

"So," Dumbledore continued (either oblivious to the awkward silence, or completely ignoring it), "the new Neck Girl," several snickers and hushing noises were heard throughout the hall, "is Hermione Granger."

Although everyone in the Great Hall knew that Hermione would be selected as the new Neck Girl, they still erupted into loud applause and cheer. Hermione was directed by Dumbledore to make her way to the front of the Great Hall, directly underneath his seat. Hermione shyly made her way to the front and managed not to trip or bump anyone in the process.

"The new Neck Boy shall be Draco Malfoy," Dumbledore announced soon after Hermione arrived to the front.

Slytherin erupted into applause as the rest of the hall sat in shock. Draco Malfoy smugly made his way to the front. He even dared to stand directly in front of Hermione with that sly smirk on his face. Hermione though was far too shocked to react to his rude manners. She closed her eyes and hung her head slightly in defeat. Just when she thought her day couldn't get any worse…