A/N: Much of this story will be set in the past. The italics are Hermione's thoughts. I also want to give a thanks to the reviewers for chapter one, and to my wonderful beta reader, Clarisse.
Flashback
Hermione Granger stepped onto platform 9 ¾, her face depressed and excited at the same time as she prepared to face her 7th and final year at Hogwarts. She waved goodbye to her parents and the Weasley's one more time before stepping onto the train behind Ron and Harry, both of whom she had spent most of the summer with. Hermione smiled as she adjusted the Head Girl badge on her chest. Her parents had been so proud, even if they didn't fully understand what it was. And Harry's Head Boy. Hermione smiled again as she saw Ron run after Luna and shamelessly wrap his arms around her. They had gotten together over the summer, and Hermione had to laugh at the thought of Ron being so infatuated with anyone.
"Hey, Hermione, isn't this great? We have our own compartment, and it's huge. Oi, Ron, you and Luna can sit in here with me and Hermione over here." And with that, Harry Potter turned around and gave Hermione a happy boyish grin that made her heart flip.
When did he get so hot? Hermione thought as she took in his appearance as he scanned the crowd for familiar faces. When do I think of my best friends as hot? Anyway, Harry and I aren't like that. Hermione flinched inwardly as she told herself that. In sixth year, Harry had suddenly become a magnet attracting all sorts of fickle and frivolous witches in the school. Who was the girl he told me he dumped last week? I can't remember if her name was Sherry, Mary, or Carrie. Hermione knew all too well that it would probably be worse this year.
And you can't really blame them. For Harry, at an incredible height of 6' 2'', was the definition of sexy. His stunning green eyes seemed to grow more like emeralds every day, and his pitch-black hair still had its trademark messy, tousled look. And tough practices of Quidditch over the summer had only served to make his muscles even more pronounced. He had also finally lightened up a bit over the summer; it was the first time he had ever really seemed to enjoy himself after Sirius's death. But Hermione knew that Sirius's death had changed him so much that he never seemed to trust anyone besides his closest friends anymore. That would probably be why he doesn't have a steady girlfriend.
Ron, Luna, Neville, Ginny, Dean, and Seamus quickly joined Harry and Hermione in their compartment. After a quick catching up session about everyone's summer, they all settled down to play a game of Exploding Snap.
"Can you believe that this is our last year at Hogwarts?" Harry directed the question at everyone, but Hermione knew what he was thinking. Hogwarts was his home, and she was pretty sure he didn't want to leave it.
"Oh Harry, don't feel so bad. Pretty soon you'll be an Auror, so caught up in your work that you won't even have time to worry about old Hogwarts." Harry smiled at Hermione's attempt to cheer him up and stroked Hedwig's feathers, staring off into space.
"Well," said Ron. "I think that we should make sure that this is the most bloody great wonderful year we have. And that means we have to win the Quidditch cup, win the house cup, and drown Snape. Actually, I'm not very picky how we kill him; he just needs to be dead. We can kill Malfoy along with him."
Then everyone besides Luna and Hermione started to talk about Quidditch strategies. Luna just looked bored as she pulled out a copy of the Quibbler. Hermione, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and grabbed her copy of Hogwarts: A History from her purse and started to read.
She appeared a little later, looking quite flustered, and proceeded to tell them their instructions and the locations of their new dormitories (off a passage leading out of the Gryffindor common room).
"Now, you two and your friend Mr. Weasley have been fighting the Dark Lord every year since you came here. Regardless of the fact that you have escaped him every time, I think that by now you have learned the importance of informing the Order of your suspicions. I won't elaborate very much now because I think Dumbledore will be speaking to you more about this. I just want the two of you to remember that you are Head Boy and Girl, and you have certain responsibilities that you have to take care of."
Professor McGonnagall nodded to them, and they had both started back to the Great Hall when she stopped Hermione.
"Oh yes, Miss Granger, I almost forgot. I have to speak with you about something for a moment please." Hermione gave Harry a slightly puzzled look and shrugged, but joined McGonnagall nonetheless.
When Harry had disappeared into the Great Hall, McGonnagall smiled at Hermione. "Don't worry, Miss Granger, this isn't about your schedule. Surprisingly everything worked out fine in that department this year. Now, what I wanted to talk to you about was my niece."
"Um, your niece, Professor?" I didn't know she had a niece.
"Yes, my niece, Tina. She went to Beauxbatons until this year. She is in seventh year and I am almost certain that she will be placed in Gryffindor. Now, Miss Granger, I would like for you to help her accustom to Hogwarts, as she was very torn by having to leave her home and friends. My brother, who is her father, recently got a job in the Ministry that he felt he could not turn down."
"Of course, Professor, I will show her around. But why-"
"Oh, thank you, Miss Granger. I am quite sure you two will become fast friends; you are both actually quite alike. Now do excuse me, I must go speak to the first years, it looks like Hagrid has just returned with them."
And with that, she hurried off, leaving a slightly confused Hermione wondering exactly what she had gotten herself into.
"So Hermione, what did McGonnagall want with you?" Ron had stopped groaning about how hungry he was long enough so that he could form a sentence, which Hermione took as a sign that he was curious.
At that moment, a tall, leggy, blonde haired Ravenclaw passed them and gave Harry a slightly reproachful look as she stomped over to her table. Harry, who was sitting next to Hermione, looked indifferent and just shrugged.
"Hey Harry, isn't that the Mary-or-Carrie girl you went out with a week ago?" asked Ron, momentarily distracted from interrogating Hermione. "Why'd you break up with her anyway, she seems nice enough and not to mention has a pair of damn fine legs."
Hermione rolled her eyes; lately, Ron and Harry had taken to discussing their love lives in front of her quite freely. She didn't know why, but it annoyed her. The fact that they always expected her to give them advice on how to act with their dates just annoyed her even more.
"Well, Sherry was nice, but she was kind of dull to hang around with. Anyway, she doesn't seem my type." So her name is Sherry.
"Really Harry? Who is your type?" Lavender cut into their conversation in a friendly yet flirtatious voice, but no one really cared because she and Seamus had been going steady for almost a year now. Hermione, bored and annoyed by Lavender's advances, turned around to Ginny and Ron to tell them about McGonnagall's niece.
"I don't know, I guess when I finally see the girl who I know is going to be mine, I'll let you know, Lavender." Harry was smirking and going into full flirting mode, when Lavender's reply made him freeze.
"Well, you must be pretty blind then, because you don't seem to notice what's right in front of your face."
As Professor McGonnagall stood up to announce that the sorting was about to begin, and many people cheered, Harry hissed, "What are you talking about?" to Lavender.
"Never mind, if I told you, you'd probably deny it anyway." And with that, Lavender turned to Seamus and whispered something.
Harry was stopped from getting Lavender to explain what she meant because of the hush that was falling over the Great Hall as the first first year put the sorting hat on.
