On the first of September, several hours into the train ride, the door to Draco's compartment slides open. He and the group of boys he sits with, boys Father would approve of, take in the sight of the Muggle-born girl.
"Someone's lost their pet toad," she says. "Have any of you seen one?"
The boys report that they have not.
And then a terrifying thing happens. As she's sliding the door closed, the girl suddenly stops. She recognizes Draco.
"Hello again," she says coolly.
Draco squirms in his seat, thinks of ignoring her. But what if that leads to something worse? Quickly, he glances in her direction, nods once. That should do the trick, right?
Wrong. There's a long pause, thick with tension as the girl stares.
"I bought that book you suggested," she says after a bit.
Clever. Calculating. Able to read the situation perfectly, to cause damage without actually saying anything insulting. She'll come to regret it, wait and -
"Right. Well, I'd better keep looking," the girl says, cutting off Draco's thoughts. She closes the compartment door the rest of the way and is gone.
As best and as quickly as he can, Draco explains about the Nimbus 2000, and to his immense relief, the other boys nod along. They understand. They too were denied new brooms, their parents pointing out that first year students aren't allowed to have them at Hogwarts.
"It was stupid of me," Draco admits, "letting someone like her think she can talk to someone like me."
There's more nodding from the boys and a murmur of assent too. One of the boys, though, the one Draco's known the longest, his neighbor Theodore Nott, is less enthusiastic about his assent than the others.
"What's her name?" Theo asks abruptly.
But Draco doesn't know, and they don't learn the answer until that night.
Inside the castle, a stern looking witch who has introduced herself as Professor McGonagall calls the first years up to the Sorting Hat one at a time.
"Granger, Hermione."
The dark-skinned girl with enormous hair steps up. She's Sorted into Gryffindor.