I walk down the corridor of the carriage, looking for the right compartment, until I spy my sister chatting with a bunch of friends in Compartment 207. I slide open the door and Hermione grins, jumping up and hugging me gently.
"Long time, no see, Hannah," she whispers in my ear.
"I missed you," I whisper back, hugging her tighter.
"I missed you, too," she replies, letting go of me and turning around. "I don't think I ever told you guys, but, I have a sister. And this is Hannah, my little sister."
"Bloody hell, Hermione," a boy with flaming red hair says. "We've known you for four years and you never thought to tell us that you have a sister?"
"It just kind of, slipped my mind, Ron," Hermione says sheepishly. She can't say why she never told them about me, and she didn't want me to come to Hogwarts, but now I have to, since I'm twelve.
"Hi, Hannah," a girl with the same flaming red hair as Ron says, holding out a hand. "I'm Ginny Weasley."
"Hi, I'm Hannah Granger," I reply, taking her hand and shaking it.
Another boy steps forward. "Harry Potter," he says, shaking my hand firmly.
"Nice to meet you," I reply, stunned by meeting him.
We're all jolted as the train sets off, and we collapse on top of each other on the seats until the train reaches a steady speed and we all stand up again, dusting off our clothes. We settle down for the ride and the boys and Ginny start up a conversation about Quidditch, to which I eagerly listen. I learnt to fly when I was younger, but never actually played Quidditch, and I want to learn this year. After a few hours, the boys leave to get changed into their robes, and Hermione, Ginny and I all do the same. We put on our uniforms, and Hermione straightens my tie, before we all slip into our robes. A few minutes after we're dressed, the boys come back in and we resume our conversation, this time drifting to our families. That's a touchy subject for me, since I'm not Hermione's birth sister. Her family, to me, is more of a foster home. My real last name isn't Granger, either. It's Lestrange. My father is Rodolphus Lestrange, and my mother is Bellatrix Lestrange, the most feared Death Eater of all time. I was trained from birth to be a Death Eater, and lived with my parents at Malfoy Manor. I was even branded with the Dark Mark. When the manor was raided last year, they found me hiding in a cupboard, and I was the only person that was found there, so they took me away. The took me to the Ministry of Magic and I was put on trial because Cornelius Fudge thought I'd been a part of Death Eater activity, when in actual fact I hadn't. I'd just been trained to. After my trial, they decided to put me in a foster home, and Albus Dumbledore decided that the best place for me to go was the Granger family. None of the Death Eaters know where they live, so I'd be in no danger of being found, and he told me that Hermione was very kind and responsible and would look after me very well. Naturally I didn't want to go; I wanted to go back home to my own family, but the Ministry said I wasn't safe there, and that I'd be in trouble if I stayed there. I caused heaps of trouble when I first arrived, and I even hit Hermione once, but I've learned to like them, and I do view Hermione as a sister now. They weren't too keen on me coming to Hogwarts, but Dumbledore insisted that I'd be fine, and that he'd be able to keep a close eye on me, so the Ministry eventually agreed, which is why I'm here now.
"So, Hannah," Ginny began. "Since Hermione's never told us about you, do you want to tell us some stuff about yourself? Fill in the four years of things that Hermione should have told us?"
I was never given any details of things about myself as a Granger, things like holidays I'd been on with them and the like, but I'm pretty good at improvising on the spot, so I make up a story in a second.
"Well, I'm eleven years old, and I turn twelve over the Christmas holiday, on the 23rd of December. Hermione never told you guys about me because I've been in hospital my whole life and I only came out over the holidays."
"Why were you in hospital?" Ginny asks. "You look fine to me."
"I was in a coma for ten years," I say, unsure myself of where this is going to go. "There were complications during my birth and I didn't get enough oxygen. They all thought I was dead, but I was just in a coma. They thought I was going to be like that my entire life, so they never came to see me, but they couldn't bring themselves to turn off my life support, either. In the end they just left me there, and they told Hermione that I was dead. She never knew until the hospital phoned our parents and told them that I'd just woken up."
"Jeez, sorry Hermione," Ron says, looking down at his shoes and rubbing the back of his neck. "I take back what I said before. I-I never knew."
"That's OK Ron, I didn't know until I got back from school either."
"So why did you come to Sirius' place with us then?" Harry asks.
"You guys needed her, and I needed to get to know my parents. Besides, we're going to have the whole year to get to know each other. I just had the holidays to get to know my parents before I had to leave," I say, knowing already that Hermione's terrible at lying.
The train jerks to a halt and we step off the train and Hermione pulls me off to the side.
"I don't know where you came up with that stuff back there, but thanks, I owe you one," she says.
"I had a lot of time to think before I met you," I say quietly.
"You still aren't going to tell me anything?"
"No."
"You're going to break at some point," she warns me.
"You don't know what happened to me."
"No, I don't, and you won't tell me. But please, if you need to talk to someone, talk to me."
"I will."
"First Years, this way!" a deep voice bellows, and Hermione walks me over to the source of the sound and says goodbye to me and joins back up with her friends. I turn to the giant man who called for the first years and is now waving to Hermione and her friends. Once all the first years have assembled around this man who appears to be a giant, though a small one, he leads us over to the lake and helps us get into the fifty or so small wooden boats at the shore. I don't know the names of the people I'm in a boat with, and I don't ask, just watch as the huge castle looms in the distance. We reach the shore on the other side pretty quickly and get out, then walk up to the castle doors, where we're greeted by Professor McGonagall. She gives us a lecture on what's about to happen and then we're being walked into the Great Hall through all the tables until we've reached the front of the Hall, and the sorting begins. I watch as about sixty other people go before me, and then Professor McGonagall is calling my name.
"Hannah Granger," she calls, beckoning me forward and placing the Sorting Hat on my head once I've sat down on the stool. It's silent for a moment until I hear the voice of the Hat in my mind.
"So, Hannah," it begins. "You really should be in Slytherin, you know. It's in your blood and you know it. But your 'sister' is in Gryffindor. Hm, what a perplexing situation; Slytherin or Gryffindor? I suppose I do have to listen to what you have to say, though, don't I?"
'They put me through hell,' I think to myself, hoping the Sorting Hat will listen to me. 'I don't want to be in Slytherin. I don't want to make them proud. I want to be in Gryffindor like Hermione'
"Well I guess I'm going to have to listen to you. You would be great in Slytherin, and your real family would be ever so proud of you."
'I don't want them to be proud of me. I want Hermione to be proud of me. She treats me right. She gives me everything they never did.'
"Alright then, but you would be a lot better off in Slytherin." It sighed before continuing. "Gryffindor!"
I look around and see Hermione sitting at a table cheering for me, and I jump up off the stool and run over to her and she stands up and hugs me.
"I'm still not telling you."