A/N: So... XD it was brought to me attention that I posted to same chapter twice in a row insread of new content. I've removed to repeat and have a new chapter for you guys. Sorry 'bout the mishap.

September 1st, 1998

It was 10: 15 AM and Hermione was standing outside of Platform 9 waiting for Ginny. It was relatively chilly for September and she'd packed her sweater in her trunk, so she was shivering slightly. Ten minutes had passed before Hermione caught sight of the familiar red hair that could only be associated with the Weasley family. She smiled as Ginny approached her.

"Sorry," the younger witch said hurriedly, seemingly out of breath. "Mum was going nuts this morning making sure I had everything and asking me several times if there was anything you or I needed. Oh! She wanted me to tell you that she's sorry about my no good of a brother Ronald's attitude. She may not have used those words though."

Hermione smiled "It's fine Gin," she glanced over at the clock hanging on a wall not far away. "We still have about half an hour. Let's just go get on the train and we'll talk there okay?" She didn't even wait for a response and walked straight through the wall.

"Hermione! Wait!" Ginny shouted, frustratingly following her through the platform and nearly running into her on the other side. Hermione was barely paying attention and didn't even notice, instead she was focused on a group of Slytherins who were standing not too far away. Well more one of them in particular, Theodore Nott. She let a hand brush over her pocket watch that was strangely in her jean pocket instead of around her neck where it usually was. She looked away quickly in fear of him seeing her, they'd already had one strange encounter this week, there was no need to add another to the list. She decided she'd talk to him on the train after Ginny went off to talk to McGonagall about head duties.

Hermione turned around to face Ginny who'd begun waving a hand in front of her face. "Sorry, I zoned out for a minute, want to go find our seats?" she asked, pointing to the train.

"Sure."

The two girls boarded the train, Hermione looking behind herself to steal a last glance at the Slytherin trio. They walked towards the back of the train and sat in the second to last compartment on the left-hand side. Once seated the witches held a decent conversation, talking about anything from Hermione's letter to how Harry and Ron had left for their training. That was until the compartment door was slid open by none other than Draco Lucius Malfoy.

"Granger, Weasley," he acknowledged them both with a curt nod. "Everywhere else is either full or has some first years who are terrified of us," he said, pointing and himself, Theo, and Blaise. "Can we sit here?"

Hermione moved so that she was sitting next to Ginny, "Fine, but don't start anything or you'll be out," she answered and before Ginny could protest, there were three Slytherins sitting across from her and her best friend.

She nudged Hermione and mumbled, "You really think this is a good idea?" The only response she received was a slight shrug from the brown-haired, brown-eyed witch she had been talking to.

An awkward silence fell among the five of them until Theodore pulled out his letter from his pocket. "You know we have to talk about it Granger, we can't just avoid it."

"We could too " Hermione shot back which was returned with serious looks from both Theo and Draco.

"Do you really think that would be wise Granger?" Malfoy asked her, the usual mock and arrogance completely gone from his tone.

"Of course it wouldn't be, but we have no idea what the letters even mean, nor whether Snape is still alive or not," she sighed, running her hands through her hair.

Ginny raised her hand. "What in the name of Merlin are the three of you talking about?"

"Our letters" Theodore and Hermione answered, causing the both of them to look up at each other, shake their heads, and look back down.

"Wait… so you mean to tell me that Nott has a letter similar to yours?" Ginny asked, bewildered.

This time it was Blaise who answered. "Yep, and neither Theo or Hermione know what their letters mean. You wouldn't believe how many times these two," he to pointed at his two friends as he spoke, "have reread that damn letter, trying to figure it out."

Hermione looked at him strangely. "Did you just call me by my first name?"

"I sure did," he replied nonchalantly with a shrug of his shoulders. "There's no reason for me not too is there?"

"Guess not…" Hermione trailed off, looking back at Theo. "Let me see your watch, please." She held out her hand, waiting. After a moment he hesitantly placed his pocket watch in her hand. Hermione pulled out her own watch and examined the outside of both of them before opening each of them and looking at the pictures inside, still stunned by how much their baby pictures looked so much alike.

Hermione handed both watches to Theodore. "Look at the pictures, we look a lot alike then, but not now."

Theo took both watches in his right hand as a nervous looking first year slid open the compartment door. "Professor McGonagall needs to speak to Head Boy and Head Girl." The small girl walked away, leaving the door open.

Both Ginny and Blaise stood to leave, then looked at each other, confused. "You're Head Boy?" came from Ginny at the same time, "You're Head Girl?" came from Blaise. They both walked out laughing.

Draco stood to shut the door once they were gone. "That was... weird," he announced as he sat back down.

"Definitely" Hermione and Theo said.

The blonde groaned. "You can't all start talking at the same time. I'll die!" he said overdramatically.

"Anyways" Theodore said, rolling his eyes at Draco. "We've got to talk about our letters, whether we want to or not Gran-," he caught himself before he could finish her surname, remembering what Blaise had said, "Hermione."

"I know, I know." Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she pulled her letter from Snape out of her black bag, which had been sitting on her lap since she had moved seats. "I have this whole thing memorized and I still don't understand more than a word of it." She handed the letter to Theo, who read it over a few times before passing it to Draco. Once he'd read over the letter Draco passed it back to Hermione and then the process repeated with Theo's letter.

After both letters had been read, silence fell over the group once more. Every once in a while Hermione would glance at one of the wizards sitting across from her or they'd glance up at her.

Minutes passed before any of them spoke, Draco being the first. "What do we do now?"

"For once," Hermione started. "I, unfortunately, have absolutely no idea."

"Honestly, neither do I, but it's hard to do anything about this or even try to do anything about this when we don't even know what this is yet". Theo stated bluntly, letting his head which was pounding from a migraine he hadn't even realized he had, fall back to rest against the compartment wall.

"Well…" Draco trailed off unsure. The compartment fell into silence once more, even when Ginny and Blaise returned. The pair could sense the tension around them and chose to remain silent. Eventually the train came to a halt, they'd finally reached Hogwarts. All five of them stood, grabbing their things and then filling out of their compartment one by one.

Once off the train the three Slytherin wizards started to make their way up to the carriages while the two Gryffindor witches hung back waiting. For what? They had no clue.

Eventually a familiar face walked off the train. "Luna!" both girls shouted excitedly, neither of them having seen or spoken to the Ravenclaw since Fred's funeral.

The blonde witch smiled at them. "Hello Hermione. Hello Ginny," the witch said happily.

"Hey Luna," the redhead replied just as cheerfully.

Hermione, instead of properly greeting Luna said, "We should probably go get a carriage before they're all gone."

"Okay," replied Luna. "Just as long as there are no wrackspurts. They're very pesky this time of year, along with the nargels." Hermione and Ginny held back a laugh at Luna's comment as they walked over to one of the last two remaining carriages and climbed in.

"Oh Luna! I almost forgot there was something I wanted to ask you!" when there was no response, Ginny continued, "Well I made Head Girl and my dormitory is off of the common room for the 8th years so McGonagall told me I could ask any 7th year I wanted to join me so that I wouldn't have to be the youngest one there."

"Oh really?" Luna asked. "I would love to join you. I've always sort of felt like an outsider, especially around you guys. It wasn't like you ever left me out or anything, I just wasn't that close to any of you. I'm glad you asked me."

Hermione groaned, suddenly realizing that Theodore still had her watch. She started to dig through her bag, realizing her head was pounding with a migraine. Similar to the one Theo had had earlier coursing through her, and pulled out aw bottle of pain killers. Ginny and Luna had begun talking about how summer had been for each of them, so neither were paying much attention to Hermione, so she unscrewed the lid and poured two of the chalky white pills into her hand. She popped them into her mouth and swallowed them quickly, not having any water to wash them down.

It only took minutes for the carriage to reach the castle, but it felt like hours to Hermione. She was dizzy and her head was still pounding. She nearly fell while trying to go down the steps.

"Hermione? Are you alright?" Ginny asked her, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I think I just need to get some food" Hermione smiled weakly at her friend, letting out a shaky breath of relief when Ginny nodded and continued her conversation with Luna.

The walk the rest of the way to the castle felt treacherous to Hermione. She was struggling to keep pace with the younger witches, the pounding in her head had yet to lessen and her vision was starting to blur. She was insanely dizzy, not to mention it felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest. The tips of her fingers started to go numb along with her lower lip. She was struggling to breathe and each breath she managed to get in sent a stabbing pain to her heart. Her legs felt weak to the point she could no longer stand. Hermione fell to the ground, her head slamming against the grass. The last thing she hear before passing out were screams of terror from both Ginny and Luna.