Chapter 2: First Impressions aren't always what they seem

The next day when Hermione awoke she tried not to think about her depressing thoughts the night before and surprisingly succeeded. She quickly took a shower before her roommates woke and then made her way down the many staircases to the Great Hall for breakfast. Once in the Great Hall, Hermione along with the rest of the students got their timetable from their Head of House. Hermione was happy to note that the first class the Gryffindor first years had was Potions with the Slytherins. She discretely looked up and smiled at Skylar who happily smiled back.

When Hermione finished looking over her timetable she turned back to her breakfast and overheard Ron muttering to Harry about evil Slytherins. She shook her head and was thankful that Ashwin hadn't entered the Great Hall yet. After she finished eating, Hermione stood and grabbed her bag before she made her way to the potions classroom, which if she remembered correctly, was in the lowest part of the dungeons. Upon reaching the dungeons Hermione notices she is the first person down there, so she opened the potions' door but stops when she realizes there where, in fact, people in the classroom. After a few seconds of hesitation Hermione leans in to listen to the voices and instantly recognizes them as her Uncle Severus' and her mother Ambrosial. Apparently Severus heard the door open for they ceased talking for a few moments until he calls for them to enter. Slowly Hermione pushes the door open and enters the dark lit room.

"Is there something we can do for you?" Ambrosial said, turning around in her chair to look at the visitor. Hermione sucked in her breath at her mother's harsh tone. Severus quickly looked between his sister and niece before he stood up and sound-proofed the room and locked the door. "Ambrosial, how can you be so blind?" Severus hissed out as he saw tears filling Hermione's dark brown eyes. Confused Ambrosial looks at her brother before she turns back to look at Hermione. Ambrosial's breath catches as she realizes she is staring at her daughter. Ambrosial stands and walks over to the crying girl.

"Hera... Is that really you?" She whispered, causing Hermione to nod her head. At the conformation Ambrosial swooped down and enveloped her upset daughter in her arms. Hermione cried harder at the close contact from her mum that she hadn't had in weeks."You look so much like Juliette… I would have realized it was you." Ambrosial said, pulling away from Hermione so she could get a good look at her. With a smile Ambrosial twirled the brown hair around her fingers.

"As much as I'm enjoying this little reunion, it is time for my class to start Ambrosial." Severus said from his place behind his desk. With a nod of acknowledgement Ambrosial stared at Hermione a few moments longer before dropping her arms and backing away, afraid if she took her eyes off her she would disappear again.

"Of course Severus" Ambrosial said, finally tearing her eyes away from Hermione's. Hermione stood by the desks and watched in silence as her mother walked out of the room without so much as saying goodbye. "Hermione, take your seat… your classmates will be arriving soon." Severus said as he walked up next to her. Hermione nodded slightly as Severus wiped a tear from her cheek. She then walked over to a seat in the second row and sat down.

After a few more students entered the classroom Severus walked out through a door behind his desk. Skylar entered not long after that closely followed by her cousin Draco. Skylar looked around the room and noticed that despite Harry and Ron sitting at a table near Hermione, her sister looked small and alone sitting at an empty table. Silently Skylar walked past the other students and sat down next to her while Draco sat on Skylar's other side. Slowly the potions classroom became full of students waiting on their professor to arrive.

During their wait for the Potions Master to enter, Hermione listened to the conversation her sister was having with Draco. "Are you upset that you're in Slytherin?" Draco asked. Skylar neither nodded nor shook her head. "I was a little last night, but after I talked to my parents and found out that their not angry with me, it's slowly becoming okay with me." Draco smiled at her but before he could say anything in reply, Professor Snape entered the classroom with the door slamming shut behind him. As he walked past their table his black cloak billowing behind him, Hermione smiled to herself at her uncle's stern persona. "In this class, you will learn the subtle art that is potions making. I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death." Severus said after he had the class put their wands away.

The rest of the class period was spent with Severus asking them general potions questions and fortunately for Hermione she managed to answer all her questions correctly; this caused many of her peers to distant themselves from her even more than they already had. Once Potions was over Hermione followed the rest of her classmates out of the room and onto their next class. In every class they had that day Skylar would sit next to Hermione, with Draco sitting on Skylar's other side so he could continue to talk to her. One question in particular caught Hermione's attention.

"So Sky, where's Hera?" Draco asked, curiously looking around the room. "Does she go here?" He continued looking back at his black haired cousin. Skylar shook her head. "No, our parents thought it would be best if she had private tutors." Draco nodded his head in understanding. "I see… I was just wondering because I didn't see her at the feast yesterday." Skylar nodded and before long their conversation changed again. Hermione had to hand it to her, Skylar was very convincing when it came to lying. Maybe that's why she was put in Slytherin.

Later that night after dinner Hermione received an owl as she sat on her bed in the girl's dormitory.

"Dear Hera,
Your uncle told me that you did well in class today. I'm happy to hear that. Get a good night's sleep, because you're in my class first thing tomorrow morning.
I love you baby,
Rune"

Hermione smiled sadly as she finished reading the letter before she tucked it safely into her trunk. She then did as her father instructed and got ready for a good night's sleep.

The next day, Hermione along with the other first years went to the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom for their first lesson of the day. Hermione sat down in the first row, and was soon joined by Skylar and Draco, which was normal, but then she was joined by Harry, Ron and one of Hermione's roommates, Lavender Brown. The classroom was silent as their professor Remus Lupin introduced himself and started the class off by telling everyone about him including how he was bitten by a werewolf when he was six years old, and how he's been working at Hogwarts since 1982. He then asks the class to tell him three things about themselves.

The first person to stand and tell the class about themselves was Draco, who tells them that his whole family has been in Slytherin, that he's a pureblood and that he loves Quidditch. Next was Skylar, who tells them that she's a pureblood, she's surprised to be in Slytherin, and that she's Draco's cousin. Finally it was Hermione's turn, who before she said anything, gave her father a mean look.

"I'm happy to be in Gryffindor, I'm an only child, and I'm muggleborn." Hermione said, not smiling when she finished, now knowing that things were about to get worse for her. While the rest of the class introduced themselves, Hermione was listening to Draco and Skylar conversation."Why have you been hanging out with a muggleborn Sky?" Draco asked her with a startled look on his face. "What does it matter? She's my first friend here Drake." Skylar said, trying desperately not to raise her voice.

"It matters because purebloods don't hang out with muggleborns; it's like a rule or something." Draco said, his voice rising slightly which caught Remus' attention. "Is there something you wanted to say Mr. Malfoy?" Remus asked with a knowing look in his amber eyes. Draco quickly shook his coloring face and looked away. Once the class ended Hermione and Skylar walked out together, with Hermione trying to hide the tears falling from her eyes.

The rest of September flew by for the other students of Hogwarts, save for Hermione; for she still only had one friend in the entire school, her sister Skylar. Soon it was October 31st and Hermione felt horrible. Ron had made fun of her during their charms class which in itself wasn't horribly strange it was after the class ended, that Ron was telling Harry that the only thing Hermione's good for is getting Gryffindor house points. This struck a cord in the not far away Hermione who heard them before she ran off to cry in the girl's restroom.

Later that night at the Halloween feast Professor Sinistra ran into the Great Hall yelling that a troll was sighted on the castle grounds. After much panicking from the students, they were taken to their common rooms by their house prefects. On the way to the Gryffindor common room, Harry realized that Hermione was missing from the other Gryffindors making their way up to the Tower. After he managed to convince Ron, they ran off to the girl's bathroom, only to see the back of the Troll closing the door behind it.

After making another stupid decision, Harry and Ron run into the bathroom in time to see Hermione crawling under the stalls trying to get away from the troll, which was swinging its club above its head. As it smashed the current stall Hermione was under, Ron yelled out "Are you ok Hermione?" Hermione didn't answer; she just looked at them with terror etched in her young face.

Meanwhile, Harry was looking around the room trying to find something to distract the troll with. Upon seeing nothing, Harry did the first thing that came to mind, he grabbed onto the troll's club and was pulled into the air. "Harry, what are you doing?!" Ron yelled, shocked that his friend would do such a thing. "I don't know, just get Hermione out of here!" Harry said as he landed with a thud onto the troll's shoulders.

Ron nodded and made a path to Hermione but stopped when the Troll turned to look at him. Ron slowly started backing up as the troll, and Harry, came towards him. Meanwhile, Hermione was crouched under the sinks staring at the scene before her."Ron, do something!" Harry yelled as the troll raised its club again. Quickly Ron pulled out his wand and tried to remember the charm they had just learned earlier that day. From under the sinks Ron heard Hermione whisper "Wingardium Leviosa." As Ron repeated the incantation the troll's club turned and smashed into its owner's head. Slowly the troll started to wobble and spin, causing Harry to jump from its shoulder's and onto the tiled floor next to Hermione. It finally crashed onto the floor with a thud a few minutes later.

"Are you ok Hermione?" Harry asked her as he helped her out from under the sinks. Hermione nodded slowly and was about to thank them when three professors ran into the bathroom. Upon seeing a 12 foot mountain troll laying unconscious on the floor, Professor McGonagall almost fainted. "Explain this, this instant." Professor Ambrosial Snape said as she placed her arms around Minerva. Harry and Ron looked at each other before they both started speaking, but Hermione interrupted them. "It's my fault Professor. I came looking for the troll, see I've read all about them and I thought I could handle it, but I couldn't… If Harry and Ron hadn't saved me, then I'd probably be dead." Hermione said, looking down at the ground. Knowing deep down that her mother would never believe her blunt lie, but she had to try.

"Miss Granger?" Severus said taking in his niece's tousled appearance. "Are you seriously injured?" Startled Hermione looked up. "No Professor, but Harry did fall from the Troll's shoulders onto the floor…" With a nod Severus walked over to Harry and started checking him over.

"I'm very disappointed in you Miss Granger; I have no choice but to deduct five points from Gryffindor House." Ambrosial said staring her daughter down. "But I must say that you are lucky." She continued as she looked over to the young boys, "not many full grown wizards, let alone first years could take on a fully grown mountain troll and live to tell the tale, so I award Gryffindor 10 points."

"And since none of you are hurt besides a sprained wrist from a bad landing, you may return to your dormitories and finish the feast with your classmates." Severus said after he finished checking Harry over. Slowly Hermione, Ron and Harry made their way to Gryffindor Tower in silence. Once at the portrait, there was an embarrassed pause and none of them looked at each other, then they all said together, "Thanks."

From that moment on, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter became her two best friends. There are just some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and watching two people knock out a 12-foot mountain troll, all for the sake of your safety, is one of them.

After that night, Hermione, Ron, Harry and sometimes Skylar hung out in their free time. The months flew by, with Hermione finally starting to accept her new life as a Granger. And soon it was the end of the year and Hermione didn't want it to end.