Chapter 4

It was finally the day Harry and Hermione were going to Hogwarts. A month had passed since they got their letters and they could not wait. They had been reading up on all their course books and quizzed each other daily. They had high aspirations to be the top of their year. Lily and the Grangers couldn't be prouder. James, however, supported his son but reminded him that there was more to Hogwarts than studying.

As the two families got ready to go to King Cross Station, Harry and Hermione received presents from their families. They were owls, a snowy white one for Harry, which he named Hedwig, and a chocolate brown one for Hermione, which she named Elyon, a name she had heard on a muggle television show. Both families drove to King Cross, as Lily had insisted that they buy a car because as much as she loved magic, she liked to take a break from it occasionally and do things the muggle way.

They got to King Cross half an hour before the train left. They thought it was plenty of time to get on to the platform and train, with some extra time to socialize with the other parents. When they had found two trolleys and stacked their trunks on them, they walked in the direction of Platform 9 and 10.

"What platform does your ticket say the train leaves from?" asked Dan Granger, Hermione's dad.

"My ticket says Platform 9 and ¾. But surely it must be wrong. I mean, I have never seen a sign for a Platform 9 and ¾!" exclaimed Hermione. Even though she was aware of all the peculiar things wizards tended to do, she was still slightly miffed.

"Well I guess you never looked in the right places." Joked James. He remembered his Hogwarts days with great clarity and wanted his son to have a wonderful time, so he thought he would tease the first-years while he could. "I am just joking. The Platform is hidden from Muggles so we have to be sneaky when we get on it. All you have to do is-"

He was rudely interrupted by the Weasley family, who were all disorganized and yelling all about the station about their forgotten properties. Their mother, Molly, was trying to tell them to get onto the platform quickly.

"Percy first." She said and an uptight looking boy ran though the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. The children were amazed that he didn't crash into the wall, that he just went through!

"Fred, you next."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy, who Harry recognized as Fred Weasley."Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother. Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done, because a second later, he had gone – but how had he done it?

Then there were only two children left, the two youngest; Ronald and Ginevra, the two Harry could not stand because they acted as though he was a celebrity, not a real person. And sure enough, once they noticed him, they started pointing and Harry could hear the girl whispering to her mother, "Mum, it's Harry Potter! Can we go over and say hi? Please Mum!" and the boy just stood there, gawking at him. Since they weren't moving forward, James pushed Harry along, telling him to run through the barrier. When everyone left, and it was Harry's turn to go through, he turned to the Weasleys, who were still gawking at him, and simply said "You know, it's rude to point." And then he left the family standing awkwardly on the other side. Running through was weird to say the least. Every bone in his body was telling him to stop otherwise he would get hurt but he just kept increasing his speed until he was at the other side, looking at the crowded Platform.

There were children, adults and elders of nearly every age. The first few carriages were full with people, some hanging out windows talking to family, some fighting over seats. As Harry looked for his family, he passed round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.

Harry found his family looking at him from a little way away, and he pushed trolley towards his friends and family.

"This place is amazing!" he exclaimed. Even though he had been brought up in both worlds, he still found magic interesting.

"What do you expect from wizards Harry? They always go slightly over the top." Giggled Hermione.

"The train is leaving in 15 minutes, we better get you kids on the train." Said James. They quickly put the trunks on the train and found the kids a compartment to stay in. Harry's little sisters were in a daze, just imagining themselves going to Hogwarts. Lily was fussing with Harry, giving him some money and packed sandwiches for the journey. James was talking to the Grangers about living as a Muggle. Ever since he had changed Voldemort over to the good side, he was ever so slightly interested in the Muggle world. James worked as an Auror for the Ministry because he got hired soon after the meeting with Tom. The ministry decided he was DEFINITELY brave enough to deal with all the wannabe villain.

Harry and Hermione found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Since his trunk was fairly heavy, his dad and Mr. Granger helped tuck away the trunks. They then left the animals in the compartment to make sure no one else would steal it. As they bid their goodbyes to their families, they saw a certain blonde boy doing the same to his parents.

"Draco!" exclaimed Hermione as she ran to greet her one of best friends. You could tell by his surprised expression that he didn't see her or this coming.

"Whoa Herms. Slow down there. Scared me." smirked Draco. "Hermione, meet my mother, Narcissa Malfoy. Mother, meet my friend, Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you," said Hermione as she extended her hand.

"Pleasure," said Narcissa, shaking her hand warmly. She had the image of a mother, kind, caring, and just plain nice. Despite her husband's dark past, she was a muggle supporter and she was glad to raise Draco away from Lucius to stop him from catching on to the discriminative trait that all her family shared.

"Guys, I think we should get on the Express otherwise it will leave without us," said Harry with an awkward smile. He knew that Draco and Hermione liked each other and he was slightly jealous. He had liked Hermione for a while now and he didn't want anyone, especially not his best friend, sweeping her from under his nose.

As the trio boarded the train they talked about all the things they had been up to since that day in Diagon Alley. They finally got to their compartment and saw that someone had put their trunk in there as well.

"Who-"

"Who do you think, 'Mione?" said Draco as he gave her one of his signature smirks. "I was trying to find you guys and I saw you leave so I put my stuff in here as well."

The train was starting to move so they moved to the windows to wave to their families. A few windows away, they heard the Weasley twins yelling to their sister.

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." To which they got a reply from their mother, "Fred! George! Don't you dare boys!"

"I'll see you over Christmas break!" Harry yelled to his sisters, who were running to try and catch up with the train, waving frantically. Harry would definitely miss his sisters, even though they had squabbles, they still very thick as thieves.

When they left the station they all sat down and started talking again.

"So what house do you think you will be Sorted in?" asked Hermione"I read up on the Houses just last night. I have to say, Slytherin and Ravenclaw sound by far the best. I would rather be brains than brawn. Hufflepuffs have no particular criteria; they are just nice and good finders, which is useful but boring."

"Yeah I totally agree. Gryffindor is pretty good but I don't think I will fit in. I prefer to study and read than sneak out after curfew." Replied Harry.

"Wherever we get into, I just hope we are there together. We have to stick together." Added Draco.

Just then the round-faced boy came in saying, "Has anyone seen my toad, Trevor?"

"Hey Neville. No sorry we haven't. We could help you look though." Said Hermione as all three of them got up and went to every compartment in the train.

Along the way, they had found the compartment of some other first year boys. There was an Irish boy by the name of Seamus Finnegan, a dark-skinned boy named Dean Thomas and Ronald Weasley. The red-head boy had his wand out and was pointing it at his rat, looking very agitated.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Our friend Neville is looking for it." asked Hermione politely. She was slightly self-conscious as she was going to a new school and wanted to make a good impression.

"No, he's not here. Sorry." Replied Dean.

"Oh, you're doing magic? Let's see it then."

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Recited Ron with annoyance. It looked as though he had tried to cast this spell multiple times without any result, because nothing happened to the rat now.

"I don't think that is a real spell. I have read up on some spells that we are supposed to be studying and they have worked perfectly fine for me." said Hermione to the ignorant boy. "Well, if you haven't seen Trevor then we have to go look for him. Oh and one last thing. You have got dirt on your nose, right there." And with that, the search party left smirking.

"Dude that was badass!"exclaimed Draco. He never knew that Hermione had Slytherin qualities like that. "You would be accepted into Slytherin just for that!"

"Thanks." She blushed, looking at her feet. She couldn't believe that she was getting a compliment from the guy she liked. "And since you have both mastered the Slytherin Smirk, we are a shoe in for Slytherin. I can't imagine being in a different House than you guys. You are my best friends." And with that, she hugged them both. It was like a mega hug. They were split up when they heard Neville running down the corridor to them, yelling "I found him! I found Trevor! He's not dead!" which brought smiles to everyone's faces.

When the four of them then returned to their compartment, they noticed that the view outside the window wasn't the clear blue sunny sky they saw when they went to the station. It was now slightly dim, the sun already gone down behind the mountains. It was nearly dark and they could see a castle in the distance. They were almost at Hogwarts.

"Guys, look! We are almost at Hogwarts!" squealed Hermione. She was extremely excited about the new school, as were the guys but they preferred to keep their cool.

"Shouldn't we change or something? I mean, I don't think we are supposed to go inside in Muggle clothes." Mentioned Harry.

"Thanks for reminding me, Harry," said Neville and he left to go to his compartment.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot about that. I will just grab my stuff and go change in the lavatory while you boys can change here." Suggested Hermione as she grabbed her stuff and left. The boys quickly changed into their Hogwarts robes and tidied the compartment up before Hermione came in. A minute passed before she arrived. They continued to discuss the different houses until the train stopped. They were finally at Hogwarts.

A/N: Thanks for reading! You have no idea how much this means to me. It's my first Fanfiction and I hope you like it. :)

ModernTechMione