The sun had barely risen in the sky as Hermione got in the shower, she had always been an early riser, but her sheer excitement had made sleeping longer impossible. She had already packed all of her belongings back into her trunk, it hadn't taken long considering she never unpacked in the first place, and moved her trunk to the common room entrance. Deciding it was too early to go down for breakfast she shuffled around the bathroom a little while longer. She did not want to disturb the other girls who were still sleeping. She knew how they were if their 'beauty rest' was disturbed. The whole concept was laughable, especially considering how much makeup they put on anyway.

Hermione caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she knew she wasn't what any of the boys would call 'a stunner' but she knew she had developed an elegant sort of beauty. On a whim she pulled out her makeup bag. She had time to kill and all of her books were already packed. Makeup wasn't something she wore often, usually just when she was going out somewhere special, or just wanted to look a little nicer one day, to boost her confidence.

It didn't take her long, she was a minimalist after all, and almost twenty minutes later she was on her way to the Great Hall to have some breakfast. Neville was already there picking at some toast, the poor boy looked like he had barely slept. Hermione gave him a reassuring smile before taking a seat next to him. They kept conversation small as they ate, and watched the hall slowly fill up around them. Harry and Ron hadn't made an appearance before Hermione and Neville had to go to Hagrids hut, but Neville assured Hermione he spoke to the two boys about the programme.

As they made their way over to Hagrids, they were surprised to see two huts similar to Hagrids, only bigger a small distance away, there stood Professor Dumbledore and a handful of other students. Hermion recognised Lisa Turpin and Terry Booth from Ravenclaw, Susan Bones and Zacharias Smith from Hufflepuff and Milicent Bulstrode from Slytherin. Meaning that there was only one student left to wait for. Hermione wondered who it could be, while she had not spoken to many of the others much, she had no problems with any of them and they all mingled briefly while they waited.

It wasn't a long wait however, as a figure was soon seen walking towards them. Hermione shielded her eyes from the sun, squinting to see who it could be. It was none other than Draco Malfoy. Typical, of course Professor Snape would have chosen him, Hermione thought biting her tongue. She was done being treated poorly from the stuck up boy, and if he started on her this year she was not backing down without a fight. For now however she simply turned her back on him and waited for the Headmaster to begin.

Moment later he spoke "Now that we are all here I would like to personally thank you all again, there are dark times ahead and we can all use all the friends we can." There was a twinkle in his eye, Hermione secretly wondered how many girls fell for it in his younger years. Albus clapped his hands "You will be separated into two groups, one person from each house will be in each group, these groups will be your new "house mates" as such" he continued gesturing to the two hut like houses behind him. "And in these groups you will be given a partner, who you will work with in classes and hopefully befriend over the year".

"I will now read the first group, Neville Longbottom, you will be partnered with Lisa Turpin, and share residence with Zacharias Smith and Milicent Bulstrode. The four of you shall live in house number one. That leaves Hermione Granger, paired with Draco Malfoy, and Terry Boot paired with Susan Bones in house two, I trust you will all get acquainted with each other, and know that socialising between the houses is encouraged " Dumbledore said.

Hermione was filled with dread, she knew she could have easily avoided Malfoy even if they had had to share a house, but to be partnered with him too? This must have been some cruel joke. Without looking back at Malfoy who was still somewhere behind her, she followed Susan into the house where they shared a look. They were never close to one another, but there was an unspoken agreement between the two to look out for each other.

The huts while appearing small on the outside opened into a spacious common room, with an assortment of chairs and lounges spread around a fire place. There were four doors leading off, all with names so everyone knew which was theirs. The boys were to the left, and the girls were to the right. Hermione instantly walked to her room, and distracted herself by putting away her belongings. She felt absolutely miserable. She was all for house unity, but she had never had a conversation with Malfoy that didn't end in some sort of verbal fight, sometimes even magical or physical fights.

Her brooding was interrupted by a knock on the door, before Susan came in, not even bothering to wait for a response.
"Hey, everyone's meeting out the front, figured we would give this thing a decent go and see about getting to know each other better" Susan said before taking Hermione's arm and all but dragging her out the door. It seemed at least one of Hermione's housemates was a social go-getter.