Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, drumming her fingers against the old, carved wooden table and listening half-heartedly to the Sorting. Her mind was elsewhere – on the last time they sat here at these tables last year, when everything changed. Not that she would admit it to anyone else, but she was scared. Scared of Voldemort and the things he could do now, scared for Harry's safety, scared for her safety, scared for Hogwarts safety, scared for Ron's safety... Ron. Her eyes wondered from the Sorting onto him; he was sitting across from her beside Nearly Headless Nick, looking grumpy and glaring down at the empty plate in front of him. Hermione jumped as the Gryffindor table broke into applause suddenly, and quickly clapped along with them as a small black-haired girl practically ran to their table and sat down. Noise went down again as almost everyone's attention turned back to the Sorting, but Hermione's attention went back to the lanky redhead across from her.
Her eyes drank in every freckle on his face, he had one just on the tip of his long nose. She felt her mouth curve into a small smile as he groaned and prodded his plate with his finger. His stomach growled loudly, Lavender, who was sitting on the other side of Nearly Headless Nick, gave him a distasteful look and rolled her eyes. Hermione felt a rush of unexplainable dislike towards Lavender as she did so. She made a quiet sound of annoyance, and suddenly Ron's blue eyes were on her face. He looked at her questioningly, obviously thinking she was annoyed with his stomach growling, and then contorted his face into an apologetic look. Hermione tried not to laugh as she waved her hand dismissively and jerked her head towards Lavender, who was now whispering something in Parvati's ear. Ron looked through Nick at her, and then looked back at Hermione and made a disgusted face, sticking his tongue out. Hermione let out a small giggle, and Harry, who had been staring glassy-eyed at the Sorting, jerked his head around to look at her. She shook her head and made herself focus on the Sorting once more.
"Zeller, Rose." McGonagall said, and a thin girl with long, frizzy red hair walked awkwardly towards the Sorting hat. 'Rose,' thought Hermione, looking at the girl, 'that's a pretty name. I wouldn't mind being named Rose, they are beautiful flowers. Maybe I'll name my daughter that…I like it better then Alicia, even though I've had that name picked out since I was seven…' A loud growl broke her thoughts, and she turned back to face Ron as 'Rose' was sorted into Hufflepuff. He was massaging his stomach and staring at the plate longingly now. "Honestly Ronald, you can't be that hungry. We ate a ton of candy on the train." She muttered as Dumbledore stood up. He shrugged. "Growing boy needs to eat, Hermione." Ron grumbled, and then watched with delight as the food began appearing. He let out a loud whoop and began shoveling food onto his plate and into his mouth as she watched him, slightly disgusted – especially when he started talking to Nick and Harry with his mouth full of food.
Hermione rolled her eyes and glanced over her shoulder at the Hufflepuff table. Rose was talking to another new first year and tucking her long red hair behind her ear. 'I hope my daughter has red hair as well, then she would really fit the name Rose…" She thought, and then felt a soft blush rise to her cheeks as she turned back around to face Ron and his own red hair.
