CHAPTER 1: Hermione
I held my breath as I got onto Platform 9 and ¾, The Hogwarts Express, with Harry and Ron and his family. It was now our seventh year at Hogwarts, the wizarding school, and it kind of struck me that it would be my final year of books, exams and the lot, and I wasn't sure if I liked that very much.
"Final year this year," Ginny Weasley whispered to me, her voice heavy.
At that I laughed. "You're worried about this year?" I asked incredulously. "You have two years to go."
"Well, next year he won't be around." She gave Harry Potter, one of my best friends, a significant look.
Harry and Ginny had that sort of thing. They'd gotten together just the previous year; of course, Harry was nervous about what Ron (who was Ginny's brother and Harry's best friend) might think, but it turned out to be the least of his worries. I knew Harry liked Ginny even before he admitted it to himself – I just wasn't that sure about it.
Mrs. Weasley, Ginny's and Ron's mother, started handing out wrapped sandwiches. "Here's one for you, Ron…," she was saying, "And you, Harry…"
"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," I heard Harry reply gratefully, quickly pocketing his. Harry had no memories of his parents, and though I wasn't allowed to do it, I sometimes pitied him. I'd always thought that my parents were nothing exceptional; I mean, they weren't members of the Order nor were they creators of a Sorcerer's Stone, but at least they were there for me. Harry, catching my eye, gave me a smile.
"This isn't corned beef again, is it, Mum?" Ron complained, who unwrapped the plastic and peeked inside. How childish.
"No, Ron, it isn't. Now get onto the train before it drives away," she told him.
As though Mrs. Weasley's words were the signal, the train's horn blared. I held on tighter to my bonnet as I clambered onto the train; once, while I was in my fourth year, the wind had picked up and blew it away. We hung our heads out of the open window and received kisses from Mrs. Weasley.
"Take care," she shouted to each of us. "Have fun in school! Hermione, dear, study hard…"
"I will, Mrs. Weasley," I assured her. "And I can guarantee you that Harry and Ron will study hard with me."
She chuckled and gave me an extra hug. "Take care, then. See you at Christmas."
Harry and Ron left to locate our compartment while Ginny and I watched Mrs. Weasley disappear as the train picked up speed; eventually, she became nothing more than a tiny speck. We straightened ourselves up and tossed our long hair back – but as I did, the strong wind picked up my bonnet and it floated a few feet away.
It fell onto the feet of a tall, blond boy, whose skin was so pale that it looked as though it had never touched the sun. He was going to step on my pink bonnet with his shiny new shoes, I was sure. He was going to sneer in my face and say I was a Mudblood, I was surer.
But what I was not sure about was that he stooped down and picked it up. With his long fingers clasping my bonnet Draco Malfoy asked us, "Any of you drop this?"
It was my first time to see him without his usual cronies Crabbe and Goyle, so I wanted to torment him the way he usually tormented me, Harry, and Ron. I wanted to shout, you foul loser… but I could not bring myself to say it. What was the matter with me? Why was I suddenly so nervous? Didn't I just punch his face back when we were in third year?
But instead of wrath I heard myself mumble, "That's mine."
I took a few steps forward, keeping my wand hand inside my coat pocket just in case Malfoy was only pretending to be nice and wanted to hex me. I took a deep breath as I stood right in front of him and reached my palm out slowly.
Stupefy! I imagined him shouting.
It never came.
Instead, he dropped the hat into my outstretched hand and gave me a crooked smile. "How was your summer, Granger?" he asked rather haughtily.
I swallowed. "F-fine." I tried to sound as indifferent as I could.
"Cool. I'll see you around then." He gave me another crooked smile and walked off, leaving me standing there and looking after him like a complete idiot.
What just happened?
I regained my composure, pulled the bonnet back over my head, and walked back to Ginny. Ginny looked as dazed as I felt. Her mouth was open and her eyes wide.
"What was that?" she asked incredulously. "Are you sure that wasn't someone on Polyjuice only pretending to be Malfoy?"
"I don't really know," I said honestly. I really didn't know what happened.
"Weird," Ginny mumbled.
And we were on our way to finding our compartment and Harry and Ron.
Something I had witnessed earlier remained persistently in the back of my mind, even though I didn't want to remember it. I had never noticed it, and I certainly didn't want to picture it. But it was always there, even when we had found Harry and Ron and they were talking to us about more important things.
I'd never detected it since he never actually smiled before.
Malfoy had dimples.
