Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Other citations will be made where necessary.

Chapter 1

The Hogwarts Express horn blared. All the school prefects were calling for the students to get on the train that was about to leave any minute. It was the beginning of the sixth year at school, and Hermione was saying her last goodbyes to her parents, before joining Harry and Ron.

"Well, honey, have fun at school. We'll miss you," said Mrs. Granger.

"I'll miss you too," replied Hermione in a sad voice. She hated these moments. She loved being in Hogwarts, of course, and being with Harry, Ron, Ginny and all of her friends, but she still missed her parents sometimes, and the summers she spent home always seemed to end too quickly. "I love you. Bye!" said Hermione hugging her parents one last time and running to the train, joining her two best friends.

"Bye, honey. We love you too!" replied Mr. Granger, releasing his daughter.

"Well, sixth year, huh?" said Ron as they were looking for a free seat for the three of them to settle.

"Yep," replied Harry. "Can you believe that next year's graduation?"

"Damn…" said Ron absent-mindedly. Finally, they seemed to find an empty cabin, when someone's hand grabbed the knob.

"Looking for a seat, Weasley?" said an arrogant voice. The three knew exactly whom this voice belongs.

"But off, Malfoy!" snapped Ron with an annoyed glare at Draco Malfoy, who was accompanied by his Slytherin gang of Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle.

Draco smirked. "I think not, weasel. But you…" and just when he was about to finish his coming insult, Hermione surprised everyone by stepping forward, pushing Harry to the side and punching Draco's nose for the second time in her life, making him lose his balance for a few seconds.

"Come on, guys" she said as she opened the cabin door and let herself in, leaving a startled Malfoy behind. Ron and Harry, however seemed to lose any ability of moving around, as they continued staring in disbelief at Hermione. Draco meanwhile seemed to regain his composure as he lunched forward towards Hermione.

"You filthy Mudblood…" But then he was cut, this time by Ron's fist in the same place where Hermione had hit him just a moment ago. After that, Ron and Harry hurried inside the cabin closing the door behind them before Malfoy could recover again.

"Wow, Hermione, that was… hot!" blurted Ron, who still seemed to in shock.

"I have no intention of suffering his stupid psychological attacks first thing in our way to Hogwarts! Next time, he might think about my fist before he approaches us again." Said Hermione in a heated tone, but there still seemed to be a trace of a smile caused by Ron's comment.

"Yeah, well… maybe at least tonight," said Harry. Hermione sighed in annoyance and muttered something about a "bloody git".

It was quite for a few minutes. Harry and Ron probably figured it would be better to let Hermione calm down a little bit first, before starting any conversation. Just then, the door opened and Ginny entered the cabin with Neville and Luna behind her.

'Hey, guys! What's up?" smiled Ginny cheerily as she sat next to Hermione.

"Great! What about you?"

"Awesome!" said Ginny. "I just saw Malfoy bleeding and cursing the whole world. What happened?"

"Hermione punched him. And then I did," declared Ron proudly and looked at Hermione who had a smug expression on her face.

"No way!" laughed Ginny and looked at Hermione in disbelief. "Well, I guess the bastard had it coming."

They continued talking and laughing all the way to Hogwarts, exchanging jokes about Malfoy, sharing stories about their summer and talking about the upcoming year.

Finally, the train pulled to a stop. "Come on, let's go" said Hermione after the girls came back with their robes on and they started going off the train.

'Oh God, how I missed this place,' she thought as they entered the Great Hall and walked to their seats at the Gryffindor table. She was happy to be back, after all, Hogwarts was like her second home. A home, which she has so many memories and experiences from, both good and bad. Like her first day at Hogwarts, hoe the Sorting Hat put her to Gryffindor, how Harry and Ron saved her from that troll and they have been best friends ever since, how she drank that Polyjuice Potion and accidentally turned to a cat, saving Sirius, her first date Kram, Dumbledore's Army and… ugh, Malfoy. He was glaring at her from the Slytherin table. At first, Hermione thought about just looking away, but instead she glared back and smirked at him his own famous smirk, which he only reacted to by rolling his eyes.

"Hermione, um… are you okay?" asked Ron when he noticed her glaring somewhere.

"What? Oh… yeah, I'm fine. Why?" asked Hermione innocently.

"Well, it just looked like…" and then he and Harry spotted the object of Hermione's glaring.

"Stupid git. Just ignore him," said Harry as Malfoy turned away and was already speaking to Zabini.