Everything was surprisingly quiet in the great hall, not many people were there at six in the morning. Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table, reading up on History of Magic for Professor Binns. It wasn't that she enjoyed his class but she liked history. She was of course the only one who took notes, but mostly she just wrote down what she had read earlier that morning. She picked some toast up off her plate and began to eat. She put her book down to do so and to keep herself occupied she began to look around the hall to see who was up. Justin Finch-Fletchley was sitting over at the Hufflepuff table. He caught her eye and waved a bit and she smiled back, nodding. Ravenclaw was the usual gang, but Slytherin…She spotted a blonde boy who looked familiar, but she could not place him. He was facing with his back to her. His hair was almost as long as Bill's. What Slytherin had long, blonde hair? Maybe he was a transfer student from Beaubatons.
Hermione puzzled for a little longer and began to study him more closely. He was sitting up straight, and making sure to keep to himself. Many a fellow Slytherin passed him by without so much as a passing glance. It was very strange. He had a book in his hand, what was it? She pulled out her wand and muttered a spell. She used her newly fine-tuned vision to see what he was reading. The spell only lasted for a minute, but it was helpful and she had quite often found a use for it. The book the boy was reading was "Muggle Rights: How Wizards and Muggles Can Get Along". Hermione smiled despite herself, a boy who was interested in muggle rights, not to mention that he was in Slytherin house. With her hyper-vision fading, she tried to get a look at him but she could still not identify him. She sighed and went back to her book, occasionally glancing at the blonde boy to see when he would leave. She got through her chapter fairly quickly and looked in her bag for her Arithmancy book.
When she looked up again the boy had vanished. She blinked a couple of times, and looked around. No one else seemed to have noticed him. Was she losing it? Hermione shook her head, and Ginny sat next to her. "Are you all right Hermione?" she asked. Hermione smiled and chuckled, "I think so. Ginny, did you see a blonde boy with hair a bit like Bill's coming out of the hall when you came in did you?" Ginny shook her head as she helped herself to fried tomato, egg, sausage, and bacon. "Sorry Hermione, no. Why?" she asked, grinning mischievously. Hermione couldn't help but blush slightly and lie blatantly. "No reason, I just wondered. I hadn't seem him before." Ginny looked seriously at her, and asked, "Well is he cute?" "That's what I was hoping you would be able to tell me," Hermione said, smiling. "Well just how much did you see of this mysterious, gorgeous stranger?" Hermione laughed despite herself. "Ginny, I don't know that he's gorgeous. But he was reading a book on muggle rights." Ginny nodded knowingly, "That means that he's a shoe-in though, right?" Hermione had to admit that being up on muggle rights did get you shoe-d in her book. She was a muggle, after all. Ginny elbowed Hermione jokingly, waiting for her to respond and said, "Oh, well, I guess he's got to be cute too, eh?"
Hermione elbowed her back, "How's Justin, by the way?" Ginny flushed only slightly. "Damn you, how did you know?" Hermione flickered her eyes over to Justin, who was staring dreamily at Ginny. "Well you know, he wasn't looking at me like that and you're the only one in the immediate vicinity." Ginny suddenly looked stern. "Hermione, please don't tell Ron. You know he goes mental every time I get a new boyfriend. And Ron already doesn't like him because of that whole snake incident in the second year and I really don't want any trouble." Hermione smiled kindly, and replied "Don't worry Hermione. Besides, it's none of Ron's business anyway?" "What's none of Ron's business?" a male voice asked. Both girls turned their heads to face Harry who had sat next to Hermione. Hermione half nodded over at Ginny, then over to Justin. "What, Justin? You haven't told him?" Hermione gave him a warning look as Ron appeared behind Harry and sat down. Harry quickly dropped the subject.
Ginny asked Harry, "Did you see a boy with long-ish blonde hair walking down a corridor?" Both Ron and Harry looked thoughtful, and Harry replied "No, you Ron?" Ron shook his head, his mouth already crammed full of toast. "Looking for a new boyfriend, Ginny? I hear Neville's available," Hermione teased, winking at her. Ginny grinned, "Yeah I know but he's so…well…I like him but he's a bit of a wet hanky. Don't you think so?" Harry was piling sausages and egg on his plate but paused to say "Ginny, don't be so hard on him. He's lived with his grandmother all his life. That's bound to make anyone a wet hanky." All three shuddered at the thought of Neville's grandmother. "Yeah, I guess you're right Harry," Ron managed through a piece of toast. The three fell silent, eating and looking around at the almost full hall. Hermione looked at her watch. No wonder it's so full in here, it's nearly 7:30, she thought. "Thank goodness that it's thelast day of class before Christmas Holiday, ay?" Ron said when he was finished. Even Hermione had to agree, but there was something nagging at the back of her mind. Does that mean I won't be able to see him again?