Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, which is probably a good thing. I think I would end up making people cringe with disgust at the mention of the subject. Fortunately, JK does not!

A/N: Hi people. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and reviewed! I may start replying to a few reviews, but we'll see how it goes. As some of you know I changed the title. I had the other one because I thought it would fit well with the beginning and end of the story. But then I realized how plain and boring it was, so I changed it. Um. . . That's enough idle chatter from me. Here's Chapter 2:

She glanced quickly around the platform. Nobody she knew in sight yet, but they would be there soon enough.

"Hermione!"

She whipped around and found herself to be looking into the face of Parvati Patil.

"Hey Hermione! It's good to see you again. How did your summer holiday go?"

It seemed to her that Parvati said this all very fast, as if trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. Moreover, Hermione had a hunch that she really didn't care a bit about how her summer had been.

"Well, let's see. I went to the center of the Earth, rode a pink ostrich, and I learned how to stand on my head and blow bubbles."

"That's nice," she replied, while twirling a lock of black hair around her finger, her eyes cast to the side.

"Well it was nice chatting with you, but I've got to go. Bye Hermione!"

Parvati walked somewhere off to the right. Some things never change. But even though Parvati had her faults, she was still a good person. All of a sudden, Hermione heard familiar voices from behind her. She turned around and saw that Harry and Ron had begun to run towards the spot on which she stood, their trunks scraping along the floor behind them. Just as they reached her, the train whistle sounded loudly.

"Honestly! You two might have missed the train!" Hermione voiced to them, sounding very displeased.

"Relax. We made it on time! Don't be so uptight!" Ron said this in a cheery, carefree sort of voice that made Hermione feel like kicking him.

Then Harry said, "Come on guys. Let's go get a good compartment."

They finally found an empty one near the back after a seemingly hopeless search, and each of them gratefully sank into a seat.

Harry and Ron immersed themselves in a game of chess. Despite Hermione's many attempts to start a conversation, they remained silent. Hermione was feeling rather pissed. Her two best friends, ignoring her! She knew very well that she was overreacting, but she didn't care. However, she wasn't about to have some silly fit, so she contented herself with throwing them nasty looks from her seat by the window. Just then, the compartment door slid open, and Draco Malfoy stepped in.

He was followed by his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Well, look who it is. Potty and Weasel. And the Mudblood too." he said in a long, drawling voice.

Ron growled, "I'm not a weasel Malfoy. But you are definitely a ferret."

Harry jumped in, "Malfoy, why don't you just get your ass out of here, before I have to kick it!"

"What's the matter Potter? Afraid that you can't?"

Before Harry could respond, Hermione spoke, "Malfoy. Please just get out of here. Go. Just go."

Malfoy sauntered over to her.

"Well, well, well. It seems that Miss Mudblood has finally grown up." He said this while gazing very blatantly at her breasts. Then he lifted his head and gave her that look. That same look she had been thinking about ever since he had given it to her two weeks ago. She turned her head the opposite way.

'No more of this please,' she thought desperately. 'No more.'

All of a sudden, Ron had Malfoy up against the wall of the compartment, cursing loudly at him and Hermione heard him say angrily in rasping breaths:

"If you ever look at her like that again, I swear. . ."

But then Crabbe and Goyle moved forward, menacing looks upon their ugly faces, and Ron had to let him go.

As they left the compartment, Harry turned to Hermione.

"Are you all right Herm?"

"I'm fine. I'm just going to go change now I think."

She made her way to the small bathroom. Hermione changed out of her black tank top and stretch jeans into some new robes. She wanted to delay wearing the secondhand ones as long as possible. She smiled as she pinned her silver prefect badge onto her chest. In this moment, she felt almost completely happy. This was something she had been striving for ever since her first day at Hogwarts, and now she had it. It was hers. She let out a long sigh, and returned to her compartment.

Harry and Ron had changed while she was gone. Ron's robes were a bit tattered and worn, but didn't look that bad. Harry, of course, had beautiful new black robes. She sat back down in her seat.

Silence filled the rest of the journey. Hermione suspected it was because none them knew quite what to say to each other. Hermione couldn't have put her feelings in words anyway.

A few hours later, the train came to a stop. There were shouts and yells as Hagrid scrambled to get the first years in the boats and the older students into carriages. Hermione, Ron and Harry got into one of the carriages. They were soon joined by Neville.

The rumors were true. Neville did have facial hair, and in vast quantities too. Hermione stared at him, and suppressed a giggle. She could not believe it, not one little bit. But, it was true.

Neville addressed everyone, "It's good to see you all again! I trust your summers went well."

Hermione nodded an untruthful yes.

"Mine was boring. Gram had me do stupid chores. And I couldn't use magic of course."

"My brothers opened up their joke shop in Hogsmeade in June. They told me business is booming." Ron said happily.

"That's good news," Harry said, "Well the Dursleys were a pleasure. I can't wait to see them again."

Ron sniggered.

"But I did get a few letters from Sir. . ."

"Harry!" Hermione screamed.

"Nobody," Harry concluded.

"Nobody! What do you mean by that?" Neville asked.

"Nothing," Hermione said.

The carriage came to a halt, and the door opened. Hermione stepped out into the cool, night air. Everyone was lined up to go inside, so she, Ron, Harry, and Neville joined the ranks.

They entered the great hall, which was lighted by levitating candles and moonlight beaming down from the bewitched ceiling. They each found seats at the Gryffindor table, and plopped down. The Sorting was about to commence.

McGonagall started to read names from the list.

"Adams, Richard"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Collins, Christopher"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Davis, Wendy"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Ferguson, Patrick"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Hall, Adele"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Hermione did not even notice when her own table erupted with applause as Adele Hall joined them. Her mind was too clouded with thoughts and worries to pay attention. Why did Malfoy have to be such a pain in the ass.

After the Sorting ended, Dumbledore began to get up from his seat, and each mouth stopped emitting sound.

"Welcome to another wonderful year at Hogwarts! Dumbledore said, smiling from ear to ear.

And so it began.

A/N: Yay! I got the second chapter up. Go me! Okay, that was stupid. Anyway, please review. It will make me very happy. Later. . .