Chapter 2

Hermione Granger had always been a lonely girl. The product of two successful dentists who both ran their own private practices Hermione was raised by nannies whose biggest priorities were their pay checks rather than the welfare of their little charge, and so the poor girl had to rely on herself for entertainment.

The house she was raised in was large and grand, much too large for a family of three, but her father's family had come from money and he had inherited the mansion- because really that was what it was- after their deaths. Apart from her parents and her nanny the only other people Hermione encountered in her daily life was the cleaning staff and cook her family hired as they themselves had little time for their daughter let alone cleaning and cooking.

When Hermione reached the age where she should be going to school it was decided that she would be home-schooled instead, and so naturally the Grangers hired a tutor. It would be the kindest thing the Grangers had ever done for their daughter as it was then that Hermione had the pleasure of meeting Helena Andrews.

Helena was a young woman in her early twenties who had just completed an English Literature Degree but was struggling to get a teaching job. She was not particularly tall nor particularly beautiful but her kind and gentle demeanour made up for that and merely made her all the more endearing to her frizzy haired little charge.

It was with Helena that Hermione learnt what it was like to have someone who cared for her and it was from Helena that Hermione developed her love of books. An avid reader Helena was quick to insist that the Grangers, who had no time for books, update the family library, which had not been touched since the early 1900's- it seemed that non-readers ran in the family- so that Hermione could be taught a variety of different subjects.

And so Hermione read and read to her hearts content, from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest-which probably wasn't all that appropriate for an eight year old- Hermione loved them all. Her parents certainly seemed to appreciate her enthusiasm for literary works as it was another thing they could brag about to their friends, 'their' daughter spoke like the well-bred little girl she was and reeked of intelligence beyond other children her age.

It was a sad day when five years after her admittance into the Granger household that Helena was dismissed. She was by the Granger's opinion no longer needed as Hermione had received a scholarship to St Margaret's an elite Boarding School for Girls and would be attending in the fall. It was on that day that Hermione learnt what it was like to lose someone she loved and as she sobbed into her teacher's cardigan the ten-year old decided she would steel herself against loving someone ever again.

As though sensing her rather rash decision, as only a good parent-figure could, Helena looked down sternly at her charge whispering furiously into her ear, "this does not mean that we will nott see each other anymore, just that we will not be seeing each other as much as we used to'.

As fate would have it, however, Hermione was not destined to enter the fabled halls of St. Margaret's as on July 31'st exactly two months before her 11th birthday Professor McGonagall visited the Grangers to deliver the most extraordinary, life-changing news a young girl could receive. Hermione Jean Granger was a witch, no not the long-nosed, warty, green skinned, cackling kind, Hermione was a girl who possessed a magical core, a strong one at that according to the Professor.

The Grangers were horrified, not naturally like most parents that their child was destined for a world where they could not protect them, but horrified like the life they had planned for their daughter was slipping down the drain, no more St Margaret's, no more dentistry degree at Cambridge, no more showing off to their friends about their 'perfect' daughter. As far as they were concerned Hermione had ruined it all by being a witch they didn't see the 'extraordinary' in it at all. They had never hear of Hogwarts, so their friends had probably never heard of Hogwarts, what on earth would they say? Of course they put on a good face in front of the smiling Professor, asking all the right questions, but as soon as the door was shut firmly behind her all hell broke loose.

Jean Granger was hysterical, pulling at her long blonde hair in despair, shouting obscenities not at Hermione of course, the Grangers were many things but abusive they were not, but at the world for 'ruining' her life. Ian Granger took another approach, he sat on his favourite armchair, an indulgent plump majestic red which according to Hermione looked remarkably like the one in her favourite film Beauty and the Beast, to the unknowing observer he might have seemed relaxed, calm even, but he was as still as a statue, his dark eyes flickering as ideas spun around his head, he desperately wanted to know how he could spin the situation to his advantage.

Hermione, however, used to her parents vain dramatics paid little care, her thoughts were on the whole new wealth of knowledge at her disposal, she'd been getting a little annoyed with reading all the 'dummy's guide' books in her house, having read everything else. Soon enough her parents had stopped with their hysterics realising the fact that no one had heard of 'Hogwarts' was a good thing, they could say it was exclusive, only for the best of the best, the gifted, everyone who knew Hermione knew she was that. No one had to know that Hermione was not going to St. Margaret because she was a witch.

So just a little over two months later, a day after her birthday in fact , on September 1st a happy Hermione stood by her stiff parents next to a bright red steam train. She had thoroughly enjoyed her trip to Diagon Alley and the numerous books she had purchased there she had eagerly devoured over the summer, not once, not twice, too many times to count really. Of the many different things she had learnt she had been very disappointed to discover that the Wizarding World's attitude towards women was very much like that of Victorian England. Not in the sense that they were unequal to men, but that they were seen as something to be protected, like fragile porcelain dolls, that meant very little women had careers as they were at home being 'cared for' by their husbands.

There was also that little problem regarding racist fascists. According to her books, Hermione was a 'New Blood' or a 'Muggleborn', the first witch in generations of her family to have a magical core strong enough to manifest physically. Somewhere in her genealogy there was a squib or a witch. Some people, however, though that this made them inferior to other wizards and witches, like the Dark Lord Voldemort whose true identity remained secret and who was renowned for his vicious attacks on those he considered 'Blood Traitors' for associating with them.

Hermione wasn't going to let any of this hinder her, quite the opposite she was determined to use this to her advantage, to set an example so to speak. She would be top of her class, a woman and a 'New Blood'. Looking around uncomfortably at the open display of affection around her, Hermione turned to her parents who were not looking very comfortable themselves what with their pinched faces and their stuffy clothing and muttered a soft 'goodbye' before entering the train her heavy trunk dragged behind her. They had already said their goodbye's at home, or rather they had lectured her on what her behaviour would be at school. Like her, her parents expected her to be the best.

It wasn't particularly hard to find an empty carriage as the first few were reserved for the first-years and the majority of them were with their parents determined to spend every minute they could with familiarity. Hermione opened her trunk procuring a hardback book she set on one of the carriage seat, she replaced it with her carefully folded plaid jacket and woolly scarf before slamming it shut once again. Clearing her throat, Hermione reached into her skirt pocked and withdrew her wand, an 11inch Hawthorne wand with a unicorn hair core, she pointed it at her trunk very happy to be trying out her first spell and exclaimed 'Wingardium Leviosa!'.

She grinned cheerfully, filled with a unfamiliar warmth she would later surmise as being her magical core straining itself to produce physical reactions, when the large trunk very shakily hovered in the air following the movements of the wand that now commanded it. Directing it to the shelf above her Hermione sat down and adjusted her dark green skirt, it was a new one that she had asked her parents to get after learning that respectable Witches were expected to wear skirts that fell a few inches below the knees, she didn't want to look to out of place. She opened the book she had extracted from her trunk beforehand 'Hogwarts; A History', a book she had read many times over the summer, but one she thoroughly enjoyed.

It was not until they were an hour away from their destination, according to the ticket anyways, that anyone saw fit to disturb her. Hermione had already changed into her uniform- a long black skirt, a white dress shirt, tie and dark grey jumper- just finished Chapter 26, an interesting thing dictating the history of Hogwarts's ghosts when two dark haired boys entered the carriage dragging large trunks in behind them. They were both quite short, shorter than her anyways but she was rather tall for her age, and had friendly smiles on their faces.

"Hello', the darker headed one said, 'My name is Harry Potter and this is my brother Neville Longbottom'. He had a calculating look in his eyes as though waiting for a specific reaction.

Hermione desperately wanted to ask how they could be brothers as they looked very little alike and didn't share a surname but held her tongue as that was not very polite and she suspected he was waiting for the question which was really quite personal.

'Hello', she replied politely, 'My name is Hermione Granger, it is a pleasure to meet you'.

The boy Harry had introduced as Neville looked startled initially before grinning at her.

'It's nice to meet you too Hermione, we expected you to ask how we are brothers actually that's what everyone else did, we don't look very much alike.'

They really didn't apart from their similar heights. Harry was scrawny but not from malnourishment, more like he ate a lot but a spent more time outside then indoors, his tan complexion confirmed her theory. Neville whist also tan, was rather pudgy which suggested that he was not quite as active as Harry. Harry sported messy black hair and bright green eyes that were partially hidden between black rimmed spectacles. Whereas Neville's chestnut brown hair was cut short and his eyes were so dark they seemed almost black when in reality they were actually a very dark blue.

'They got annoyed very quickly when we refused to say anything so we decide to leave.'

'We are all allowed to have our secrets, I am certainly not going to tell you my life-story on the first day', Hermione said primly.

They stared at her like she was some sort of rare specimen when she really wasn't. The only really remarkable thing about Hermione, excluding her intelligence of course, was her height. At 5'5 Hermione was taller than most 11 year old girls and boys for that matter. Her hair merely added to that height as unfortunately, according to her anyways, Hermione was in possession of very unruly hair. Though a very pretty golden-brown colour, her hair was so curly it tended to frizz when she brushed it and she had to brush it or it got tangled and she looked like a banshee. Her pale face, courtesy of spending all of her time inside reading, was small, with high cheekbones that sported an abundance of golden freckles, and sported a small nose and mouth. Her honey coloured eyes, though lovely, looked out of place in her face.

All in all, Hermione was the kind of pretty that people didn't really notice until she was stunning 10 years later. She was also not very used to being stared at like she was the best thing since sliced bread.

'We like you-', Harry started.

'-So we're going to keep you', Neville finished.

Hermione blinked confused, was that how everyone made friends? She didn't really know as shed never really had any, but she wasn't going to complain not when it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The rest of the train ride included Hermione finishing off her book whilst Harry and Neville, her new friends, sat in the corner and played a game of snap. When they stepped out of the train they were greeted by a large rather ethereal looking castle in the distance. Hermione was drawn out of her stupor when Neville and Harry made to walk towards the horseless carriages the older students were heading towards. She reprimanded them softly, if they had read 'Hogwarts; A History' they would know that the first years took the boats across the lake to the Castle. The boys blushed heavily as they scuttled after her and onto a boat, they were the last ones there and therefore had a boat to themselves so there was no need to make introductions with a fourth companion.

Whilst on the boat, her friends suddenly seemed to realise that she was the go-to-girl for information about Hogwarts and demanded to know how they would be sorted as according to them their Gran refused to tell them. Hermione told them of course, happy to tell them all she knew, she desperately wanted to know why they mentioned their gran and not their parents but held her tongue. Within 10 minutes the self-moving boat had reached the other side of the boat and the trio clambered of and followed the others to the large doors of the school where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them.

Another five minutes went by in which students renewed family rivalries- according to Harry and Neville the rude redhead was Ronald Weasley and the tall blonde (taller than her even!) was Draco Malfoy and their families hadn't gotten along for generations- and were scared by the ghosts before being ushered into the great hall. Whilst they walked down the aisle of gawking students Hermione thought it was important to tell her new friends all she could remember about the ceiling which was according to her the most astonishing thing in the hall. Whilst her new friends seemed to appreciate it the rude redhead certainly didn't as she not so subtly muttered 'know-it-all' as he passed her.

Harry and Neville had not liked that at all judging by the way they glared but before they could say anything they were interrupted by McGonagall calling up the first girl to be sorted a 'Hannah Abbot' who was quickly ushered towards the Hufflepuff table. Hermione was called up a few names later and confidently made her way up to the stage. As the hat was lowered on her head covering her eyes she couldn't help thinking that it was a bit excessive making them be sorted in front of the whole school on a stage like it was a performance of some sort.

"Naughty Naughty Dumbledore' a raspy voice whispered in her head making her jump, she had forgotten the hat could read her mind and talk and sing, its singing was moderately remarkable and it rhymed.

"Your certainly a surprise, you certainly do not belong in Gryffindor that is for definite', it mused.

Hermione frowned she had never thought of herself as particularly brave or courageous but she was not a coward either.

"Oh no dear not a coward, but that would break family tradition, perhaps you belong in Slytherin, you have plenty of ambition, but no that will not do you are supposed to be a Muggleborn after all.'

Hermione froze, family tradition, 'supposed to be', what was the hat talking about?

"Perhaps Hufflepuff is for you, you are hard-working, no that will not do either you have not really had anyone to be really loyal towards to judge that yet."

Hermione thought of her new friends Neville and Harry whom she was already pretty protective of she couldn't really imagine being un-loyal to them, they had glared at that rude Ronald for her hadn't they?

"Ravenclaw will suit you best, yes yes Rowena would be proud of your thirst for knowledge it practically matches her own, you will do best there I think, flourish more and it was your Father's House.'

Hermione froze as the Hat shrieked 'RAVENCLAW!'

She numbly made her way towards the cheering blue and bronze table absentmindedly taking a seat. Her father? Her father was not a wizard, he was a dentist, a normal average dentist, he didn't come to school here, the Hat must have been confused, yes that was it he was confused. She was brought out of her confused thoughts by McGonagall's stern voice calling for Neville to be sorted. He made his way to the stage nervously as opposed to the confidence he usually seemed to exude. Within minutes the Hat called out 'HUFFLEPUFF!' and Neville descended into the roaring table of black and yellow clad students. Harry took his place on the stool soon after and the hat was quick to exclaim 'GRYFFINDOR!'

For a minute Hermione wondered if they being in different houses would ruin their tentative friendship but as it hearing her insecure fault the boys simultaneously turned to look at her grinning in that unnerving way that bespoke years of friendship to come and that fuzzy warmth from before filled her up again.

Authors Note:

Hi Everyone!

I am currently doing my final year of A-levels and so I am naturally really busy.

Nonetheless, I'm really sorry for the late update: (

If any of you are fans of the Hunger Games I have a HG fan fiction that you can go check out which has a lot more chapters than this story.

Thanks for all the favourites and follows and I especially want to thank the people that reviewed they keep me happy and make me write:D