Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Hermione's POV

Is the new girl coming over to me? Eh. No. She can't. She's probably just coming over to talk to Harry, Ron, or Ginny. No one as cool or important as her would talk to me. Everyone thinks I'm a loser. Well, except my best friends, Luna Lovegood and Isabella Zabini, Isa for short.

Luna Lovegood is thought as loony by the whole school except, of course, me and Isa. I see Luna as a strong young woman that doesn't take anyone's crap. I wish I could be as strong as her because you gotta admit it takes a lot of strength to have all those cruel insults thrown at you EVERYDAY. I don't think I would make it. I wish I can stand up for her, but I'm too shy and I don't have a lot of confidence. I don't even know why I'm in Gryffindor. She should be here instead of me.

Isa Zabini is Blaise Zabini's younger sister by four months. I feel sorry for her. She and Blaise used to be very close, but then they came to Hogwarts and they got separated. Blaise was sorted into Slytherin, while Isa got sorted into Ravenclaw with Luna. At least she has Luna, I don't got anyone with me here in Gryffindor. Oh and did I forget to mention she's a mute, meaning she can't talk at all. But she can still communicate by sign language, and only me, Luna, Zabini(Isa's brother and unfortunately) can understand. So it's pretty lucky so we could send each other secret messages.

I sighed while I thought about me and my friends' life. Life can be a bitch, can't it?

I wish people wouldn't judge on what they see or what other people see. I mean wait was there a hand in my face?

I snapped out of my thoughts and saw who the hand belonged to. OMG! Grace Livingstick is sitting right next to me! And it looks like she wants to talk to me. Okay at cool Hermione, this may be your one chance to impress her. I try to say something to her, but I can't find any words at all.

Oh crap.

Grace's POV

I walked over to a girl with bushy hair and with a book in her hands. She looked like she was thinking, but it looked like she wasn't thinking about the she had in her hands, it more looked like she was deep in thought.

I sat down right next to her. Some Gryffindors kept introducing themselves to me, but I just muttered 'Nice to meet you' and pushed my way to the girl. I sat down right next to her, but as soon as I did a red-headed girl right across from me started talking to me, and I felt like I wanted to pound my head on the table multiple times. Luckily, my dad taught me how to drone out people who have the undesirable need to talk about absolutely nothing important, and bloody hell this girl was sure one of them. I droned her out while she kept chatting away. Seriously, doesn't this girl see I'm not interested?

I turned my attention to the two boys sitting next to her. One was the great Harry Potter, seriously what do people see in him? Sure he defeated the Dark Lord, but it was in his fifth year. Also, it's obvious he's taking advantage of his hero reputation. What, he thinks just because he's a big hero, he's the boss around here? Big macho man? That he can call the shots? Uh uh. It might work with his fangirls, but I promise you will never see me going ga ga for him. I bet he uses his hero's reputation just so he could get girls. Probably even to get laid. Ugh. I wouldn't be surprised if I was right. I also bet you he over-exaggerates when telling how he killed the Dark Lord, probably near-death experiences or maybe a last-minute/last chance kill. Whatever. He tried to flash me a 'charming smile,' but instead I saw pearly whites surrounded by green or brown mush. Was he eating a green beef or brown vegetable or something? Yuck! He could at least swallow, before putting on that so called 'charm.'

I looked over to the other boy. He had red hair and his face was full of freckles. Probably the chatter-box's brother. His mouth was so full of food that he looked like a greedy chipmunk with a mouth full of nuts filling all the way to his cheeks. He introduced himself, or at least tried. All I heard was," Ehh agh Wun." That did sound slightly like a greeting, so I just simply nodded. I tried to smile, but I couldn't get myself to because I was by far disgusted with him and his opening mouth full of food. You would think he learned how to swallow! I swear I could see tiny bits of food coming out of his mouth. Ugh! Sickening! Trust me, I don't get grossed out easily. Yuck!

Then, I turned my attention to the bushy haired girl in front of me, while I ignored the other three. I offered her a smile and took my hand out for her to shake. She didn't take my hand and I saw she was still thinking about something.

I shook my hand in front of her face and said," Hello, anybody there?"

She looked surprise at first, and then when she saw me she absolutely froze. She looked like she was going to say something, but nothing was coming out.

"Hey, Grace Livingstick. You?" I said.

She blinked and in a whisper, I could barely hear, said," Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. Muggle-born."

"That's cool, so what were you thinking about?" I said.

She froze and stuttered," H-How d-d-did you know?"

I gave her a smile and said," You don't have to tell me. I understand."

She relaxed, but looked hesitant.

She asked," Can I ask you something?"

I quirked an eyebrow and said," Didn't you just ask me something?" I laughed a little and she laughed as well.

After our laugh session, she said," No, what I mean is...Why are you talking to me?"

I was stunned. I mean why wouldn't I talk to her? She looks like a down-to-earth person. She looks like she could be fun to have as a friend. I answered," Well, you seem like a cool person and it looks like to me, there ain't too many cool people here."

Hermione stared at her plate and said," I'm not cool. I'm a mudblood bookwarm."

I gasped at her words. She should never say that! Or even think that! How she think so lowly of herself!

"Never say that about yourself!" I exclaimed a little too loud than I would have wanted, but I didn't care.

She just said," But, it's true. I'm nothing to everyone, except dirt." She looked really sad.

It hurt me to see her think of herself like that.

I was about to tell her she's not dirt, but got interrupted by the chatter-box. I think she said her name was Ginny Weasley in between her yapping rant. She threw her books at Hermione and said," Get them done by tomorrow morning."

I was by far angry by this gesture, but my anger just got worse because Potter and the he-Weasley threw their books at Hermione as well and just went back to eating.

My temper reached the boiling point. "Who do you bloody think you are? Hermione isn't your bloody slave!" I screeched. I was by far outraged.

Everyone looked at me in shock, but I couldn't care less.

How dare they treat her this way and how dare she think of herself that way!

Chatter-box, Potter, and open-mouthed-pig looked surprised.

Chatter-box simply said," She's a mudblood what else is she good for?" As if it was obvious.

I snarled at her and said in a dark tone," Don't ever say that near me, if I even hear it in whispers, you can bet your arse I will hex that tongue-tied devil straight to oblivion, got it?" By the time I finished that warning I was shouting again to make sure everyone got the message.

I then took the books from Hermione and threw them into their bloody faces. (Potter, Chatter-box, and open-mouthed-pig)

Before I can do any more damage to the bloodists (like racist, but judging on people's bloods), Hermione pulled me almost next to the Ravenclaw table. I looked at her like she was mad, she had the same expression as mine, though.

Uh oh. Not good.

Hermione's POV

"Why are you standing up for me?" I really wanted to know why Grave Livingstick wanted to stand up for me.

Grace's POV

I looked at her like she was crazy(which she kinda was to be honest) and said," You don't stand up for yourself and bloody so called 'friends' are making you do their homework and treating you like a slave.

Hermione looked absolutely shocked.

She said," You want to be friends with me? But, why?"

I sighed and said," You're down-to-earth, you don't look like you gossip, you don't really look girly, you know, all pink and ruffles, you're not that kind of girly are you?" She shook her head. "Oh, Merlin," I sighed in relief. I continued," And best of all, you look like the kind of girl I used to be."

She looked at me in confusion and said," What do you mean?"

"I wasn't always this confident of myself or not afraid to be who I really am. I used to be scared, shy, lost even. I didn't have any friends at all. I wanted friends, but never had any. Sure, people would come up to me, hoping to become my friend, but to be honest I wanted a real friend not some stranger that wants to be friends with me just because who my family is and what they've done, or what I could do. It was driving me crazy because I knew none of them truly wanted to be my friend. My mom used to tell me that 'true friends see the real you, while others just see what's in front of them.' I'm confident because I want friends that are friends with me because of who I am in the inside, not for who I am on the outside, and I've always been confident that I'll get friends like that. I'm who I am because I'm not afraid of what others think and it's easy to tell who could be my real friends. Other people would just judge on your appearance or background, but real friends would take the time to get to know you. See, where I'm going with this?"

She looked at with a confused expression and said," I think so, but can you make it a bit more clear on what you're trying to point out?"

I sighed in frustration and replied," You're afraid to be who you are because people just judge you on your appearance and background. You let them step on you and confidence will be flattened. I think you want people to take their time to get to know the real you before they judge. To be honest, you shouldn't really on how people see you. What matters is how you see yourself." I hope that was clear enough.

I think she got it because she smiled.

"Thank you," was all she said. Then, she grabbed my hand and dragged me to two Ravenclaw students ,sitting in the Ravenclaw table, who have a bit of a distance from the rest of the Ravenclaws. As I looked on I saw they were both girls. One had pale skin, long,wavy blonde hair, big grey eyes that hardly seemed to blink, and a dreamy expression. First thought: Cool, weird, but still cool. The next girl was medium/dark tan, blue eyes, and long wavy black hair that reached her waist. First thought: Simple, but could be hiding something. Hmm.

Hermione sat down across the two girls and motioned for me to sit next to her, I obliged.

Hermione introduced me," Luna, Isa, this is my new friend Grace Livingstick."

They probably already knew my name, but still it was nice to be introduced to.

"What's up?" I said with a smile. I just had a feeling that I'm going to get along with these girls.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Grace, I'm Luna Lovegood," said Luna.

Isa sign language me ' Nice to meet you I'm Isa Zabini, ignore the fact that Blaise Zabini is my brother, okay?'

I sign language her,' Sure,' with a smile.

The three girls looked surprised at me. Hey, I had free time when I was learning it!

I chuckled and said," Yes, I know sign language," with a smile.

They smiled back.

Luna and Isa told me how they had the same problems as Hermione, but with additional, like being teased or insulted every 5 minutes, or being ignored you exist by your very own brother. I swear these people are heartless to these girls. Why wouldn't they like these girls, they're great. If only they weren't misunderstood.

I sighed and apparently while I was in lalaland the other three were talking.

"Alright, we've decided and you're in," Luna said while smiling.

I was confused. What was I in? "What am I in, exactly?" I asked while being clueless.

'You're our new best friend, silly' signed Isa.

I was happy, cheerful, joyful, glad, jumpy, giddy, all the happy emotions you can think of! BEST FRIEND!

"Yep, and like you said, you didn't judge as for our appearance or our background. You got to know us and we like you so, yeah. Do you want to be our new best friend?" She asked almost hopefully.

I was speechless!

"HELL YEAH" I exclaimed. I don't care if it was loud, that everyone can hear! I just got BEST FRIENDS!

The three smiled at me and hugged me. Yup, you can say I was pretty happy that moment.