AN: This is a Dramione story so if you don't like it, don't read it. Also, it is a slight crossover with Numb3rs but not enough to be put in the crossover section and you do not need any Numb3rs knowledge to understand it. I'd also like to say that if anyone recognises the plot line as their own then I have probably taken inspiration from a story I have read and if you wish I will credit you or even take the story down.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Harry Potter or Numb3rs or anything else you may recognise!

She stood in front of the full length mirror. She surveyed the whole backwards room in front of her. There were times when she wished she could just step inside this backwards world, where she could be safe, but there was no magic that could help her with that. As she glanced at her bedside table and the pictures that lay on it, she thought about how different she was now. One was static, where she and her brother stood smiling blissfully at his 18th birthday party. The second was a moving picture where she and her two friends, Harry and Ron, were chatting animatedly. Well, Harry and Ron were, she was just stood, listening with that fake smile that she had so well perfected spread across her face. The third and final picture was, again, moving. This time she was talking to a blond haired boy with striking gray eyes and, like in the first picture, they both had wide grins spread across their faces. Every now and again she would reach across and slap the boy playfully on the arm. She glanced back at the image of her current self that was staring back at her in the mirror and her mind wandered to how her looks had changed. For starters, her hair had turned from a bushy, brunette mane into a styled, black, messy bob around her head. The eyes that looked back at her had been changed to a piercing green from the boring brown that they used to be. These were the changes that she liked, the ones she had made possible with a flick of her wand. There were, however, some changes that she didn't like. Firstly, she had been forced to wear that fake smile too much over the summer than she should have. Secondly, she was thinner, paler. Many girls would say "What are you complaining for? We'd all like to be thinner", but she had considered herself naturally slim in the first place. Now, in her opinion, she just looked like death warmed up, too thin and too pale. But she was trying not to moan, there was nothing she could do about it for the moment. Finally, there were the bruises. The ones she had been too tired to cover up last night. This she could fix and, with a final sigh, she flicked her wand and they were gone. Well, they were still there, just underneath a whole lot of powdery stuff that she didn't have a name for that was magically applied with that particular spell. Silently, she began to dress in her black jeans and a 3-quarter length blouse with a black waistcoat and some green necklaces and bangles. She could easily slip her school robes on over the top of this without looking completely ridiculous.

"Hermione, are you ready to go. We'll have to leave in about 10 minutes if you don't want to be late."

She stiffened as her mother's voice floated up the stairs towards her. She sighed and, putting on a sickly sweet voice, called down to her mother,

"I'm nearly done mother, I'll get some breakfast on the train."

With a final check of her trunk, she shrank it, put it in her pocket and walked down the stairs to find her mother waiting by the door for her.

"Is Steven not coming with us?"

"No darling, he had to go into work early."

Steven was her stepfather. He was always drinking or had a hangover. He usually went to the station with them, but only so he could complain about how 'spoilt' she was and how they shouldn't let her go to a 'ridiculous magic school'. To make up for this though, when she came home during the summer, he made her cook and clean every day. She was lucky if he was satisfied or too drunk to care, otherwise she got a slap. Or a punch. Or a push into a wall or a table. She also wasn't allowed contact with the wizarding world unless the letter was from Hogwarts. She was only allowed 10 minutes a year in Diagon Alley to buy all her books and anything else she might need. Her mother never stood up for her, just looked on with a glazed look in her eyes, as if she thought that if she didn't look at what was happening properly, then it wouldn't matter if she didn't do anything about it. Anyway, Hermione was always glad to get to school; she was just annoyed that this year would be the last time she could use the wonderful place as an excuse to get away.

Dramione...Dramione...Dramione...Dramione...Dramione

The taxi ride to the station was completely silent, she stared out one window and her mother stared out the other. The driver looked at them strangely through the rear-view mirror but, thankfully, didn't say anything. When they arrived at King's Cross, her mother paid the driver and asked him to wait for her to come back out. In silence, they walked into the station.

When they reached the gap between Platforms 9 and 10, she turned to her mother and gave her a tight hug, as if to say 'It'll be okay'. Unlike most of the other families whose children were going off to Hogwarts, the Grangers had to say their farewells outside the platform. This was simply because, as a precaution, muggles could not get through the barrier to Platform 9 and ¾.

"Are you coming home for Christmas this year darling?"

"No, I don't think so mother. I'll write to you about it nearer the time though."

"Write to me at least once a week anyway."

"Of course mother. I'll see you soon."

"I'll miss having you around. Have fun at school. Work hard."

"I will mother. I'd better get going; I don't want to miss the train."

"Okay dear. Goodbye then."

"Goodbye mother."

With that she set of towards the wall. As she reached it she casually leaned against it and she fell through. As a first year, she had run excitedly at the wall but, as she got older, she had learnt that it was far more graceful to go through it inconspicuously. As she searched the platform for the familiar red heads, she thought about her previous conversation with her mother. Their conversations hadn't always been so impeccably polite, but since Steven had started drinking and doing all the things he did when he was drunk, they had been hardly speaking and when they did it was like that.

She hadn't spotted any of the famous red hair that belonged to the family of Weaslys so she assumed they weren't here yet or they were already on the train. She was glad of this because it meant she could sneak on the train without them spotting her.

AN: Please review with any comments or suggestions on plot, writing style or anything else you want to comment on! Reviews=virtual hugs!

Bye for now,

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