Disclaimer: I own no characters or places, just the plot!
A/N: This is my second attempt at a story, my other one never got finished… Anyways, ignore HBP and probably OotP as well. Enjoy!
Hermione Granger stepped onto Platform 9 and ¾ trying to juggle not only a cart and a cat, but an umbrella as well. The rain pouring down obscured her view and she could just make out the scarlet steam engine amidst the sea of umbrellas. While she was simultaneously trying to make her way to the Hogwarts Express and find the Weasley clan, she ran into something rather solid. Upon raising her head (and umbrella) she saw it wasn't a something, but a someONE, the very someone she really didn't want to see right now, Draco Malfoy.
"Watch it Mudblood I'm walking here." he snapped.
"Last time I checked this was a public platform so if you'll excuse me Your Excellency, I have better things to do then stand here in the pouring rain and trade insults with a Death Eater. I'm off." and with that Hermione walked off towards what looked like a group of people with flaming red hair, leaving Malfoy sputtering with rage in her wake.
"Ron! Harry!" Hermione screeched and dropped everything she was holding to run to her two best friends.
"Hello Mione, how was France?" Harry asked, after scooping her up in a bear-hug, umbrella and all.
"It was lovely, especially the wizarding town I went to, it was like Hogsmeade meets Diagon Alley, homey but with a lot of shops as well, they had the most wonderful bookstore. Did you know that the larger wizarding villages there accept both Muggle and wizarding money? It was really quite interesting, I saw a museum that chronicled the history of Veelas. It turns out the first Veela is believed to have been—"
"Gods Hermione we didn't need a travel brochure and a lecture on France, we were just asking if you had a nice time." Said Ron, whose head appeared to be spinning.
"Oh well yes, it was a lovely time, thank you for asking," Hermione replied with a bit of a sad face.
"Cheer up Mione, you can tell me all about the first Veela on the train, now can we please get onboard or do we want to stand out in the rain all day?" piped up Ginny.
After saying good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and the twins, the four boarded the train and found an empty compartment towards the back of the train. They then settled down for a restful ride complete with pumpkin pastries, Exploding Snap, and Ginny learning about the history of Veelas.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the train, a group of Slytherins were discussing the "Golden Trio" and how best to make their last year the worst ever for the Gryffindors.
"I think that provoking them in Potions should be a start." said Pansy Parkinson, a pug-faced girl currently trying to crawl into Malfoy's lap.
"Like we don't do that already you imbecile, what the bloody hell do you think you are doing, get off of me." Malfoy angrily replied trying to unhook her talon like hands from around his neck.
"That's not what you said last night Drakie." Pansy purred, or tried to, it was a little hard to sound sexy while you were being pushed into a seat on the other side of the compartment.
Instead of dignifying that with a response, Draco merely sat back in his seat and thought of more ways to torture the Trio. After almost an hour of silence he stood up and said ; "I've got it!"
While the Slytherins were plotting and listening to Malfoy's explanation, the blissfully unaware Gryffindors were speculating who the new DADA teacher would be and what the Gryffindor chances for winning the Quidditch and House Cups were this year.
The rest of the train ride passed uneventfully and before the students knew it, they were at Hogwarts, and yes it was still pouring buckets of rain. Through the rain they could vaguely make out a lantern signifying Hagrid and could just barely hear his booming voice yelling; "Firs' years this way!"
The trio and Ginny rushed towards the thestral-drawn carriages and tried to scramble in one but Hermione reminded them that she had to go in a special Heads carriage and that she would see them in the Hall. She then ran through the rain towards the first carriage and left her three friends with Neville and Trevor the toad stumbling in at the last moment.
Hermione made it to the Heads carriage and threw herself in not even looking to see where she threw herself and who was in the carriage with her. Luckily, she narrowly missed landing in the Head Boy's lap, but that didn't stop her from nearly poking him in the eye with her umbrella.
"Watch where you point that thing Mudblood, you nearly took my eye out!" screeched Malfoy, sounding a bit like a preteen girl.
"Pity I missed, next time I'll be sure to aim better," Hermione replied, not really paying much attention to him, she was focusing on trying to close the aforementioned umbrella.
Suddenly, without warning, the umbrella was snatched from her hands, closed, and thrown out the window in one fluid motion. Before Hermione could even think, the carriage stopped, the door was thrown open and Malfoy had grabbed her and pushed her out the door into the mud before calmly exiting himself.
"Well, this will just be a lovely year," thought Hermione before stalking into the castle behind him trying to scrape the mud off her boots.
A/N: there it is first chapter, I know it's short but I promise to do better! Let me know what you think and if anyone wants to be a beta let me know! Bye bye!