Sixteen year old Hermione Granger had just been dropped of at King's Cross Train Station by a cab that she had called. The reason she had taken a cab and her parents hadn't brought her was because her dad had died in a car accident over the summer causing her mother into a serious state of depression. It was so drastic that she had turned to alcohol to escape. Seeing her mom like that sent Hermione crazy. She stopped doing everything she enjoyed. Reading, watching Muggle T.V., and writing her friends. She became depressed. However, not as much as her mom. Hermione slowly dragged her trunk to platform 9 and 3/4 , watching everyone rush by. She pushed through the barrier and got onto the platform. "Hermione!" someone called She ignored them and just kept walking. "Hermione!" they called again. She kept walking. "HERMIONE ANN GRANGER!" She looked over and saw a bunch of red heads accompanied by one dark haired boy. Her once-favorite wizarding family and best friend were calling her. Her face lit up and she ran over to them. She nearly chocked Harry and Ron as she hugged them. "Ok Mione, calm down." Said Ron "We're not going anywhere." "I'm so glad to see you guys!" "We're glad to see you too. Now let's get going or we'll miss the train!" "Ok." "Hey, how come you didn't write back to us? We were really worried- " Hermione started crying and the boys looked stunned. "Hermione, what's wrong?" "Yeah, is it something that happened over the summer?" "My- my dad- died." "I'm really sorry Mione." "Yeah, we didn't know." "Didn't know what, Potter? That she was cheating on you with Weasle?" drawled a voice from the door. Hermione stood up, walked slowly over to Draco and his little body-guards, looked him straight in the eyes, and slapped him across the face. "I hate you." She said softly. He took one look at her and almost stumbled backwards, but Crabbe and Goyal caught him. He turned around and left.