Hermione awoke bright and early the next morning. To be exact, she was up at 7:00AM. She needed time to get ready; she wanted to look good for her friends. This was also her first time going into the wizarding world since her little "change."

She went down to the kitchen for breakfast, which was already made since her parents had to be up early to go work. They were both well-respected dentists. She was proud of her parents, but annoyed whenever they badgered her about eating so many sweets once a month. Her mother understood, but still.

She sat down at the table, and buttered a piece of toast. She wasn't all that hungry, but knew that she had to eat something before her trip to London, and then Diagon Alley. Her parents were calmly reading the newspaper, and drinking their juice. They never drank coffee, due to the stains that it left on teeth.

"Dad, are you going to drive me to London, or am I to take the bus?" Hermione asked, as she got up from the table.

"Yes, I am, but you have to be ready by 9:00. Sound good?" Her father didn't even look up from the paper.

"I can do that dad." Hermione ran up to her room to grab her towel. She brushed her teeth, while thinking about the day to come. 'Its going to be great to see them all again' she thought.

Her shower was quick, but nice. She toweled her hair off, and went to her room. She checked the time. 8:05. Good, she still had plenty of time. She walked over to her closet, to look for something to wear. Her mother had taken her on a VERY large shopping spree after receiving her marks for the year before.

She checked the weather, 'good, a nice and warm day' she thought.

She picked out a pair of tight fitting, black and pink pinstripe capris and a white halter-top. Throw that with her army boots, and some makeup and she would be ready to go. She did her eyes with black and pink, a little bit of tinted lip-gloss, and threw her hair up in pigtails. She looked in the mirror "well, I'm still me, but I hope the guys like the change' she thought.

She checked the time again, 8:55. She grabbed her bag, and ran down the stairs to meet her dad. The ride to London was uneventful, just the usual being told to be good, and always watch for strangers. Her parents would never learn that things were just different in the wizarding world. 'Oh well,' she thought, 'perhaps its better this way'.

She found the Leaky Cauldron, and tapped the bricks in an obscure fashion, that absolutely no one could remember the first time around...except Hermione. She had a very good memory for that kind of thing. She wasn't the best witch in the school for nothing!

She left to the streets, following her way to Gringotts, the wizard bank. She still loved seeing all the goblins, and how the bank actually worked. She went up to the counter, gave them her key, and a goblin came to take her away.

Her vault happened to be very deep in the tunnels, and it took 10 whirlwind minutes to reach it. The door was opened, and she saw, to her delight, that her pile of Knuts, sickles and galleons had grown. "Must have been mum and dad' she mused. She grabbed a handful of each, and hoping she had enough, left the vault.

Another 15 minutes later, she was standing in Diagon Alley, with a pouch full of money. Now she knew exactly how Harry felt!! She checked her watch, 11:30. She still had an hour and a half before her friends were supposed to show up. 'What to do', she thought.

Robes! Came the answer, She needed new dress robes. She couldn't very well be head girl and NOT have new robes for the ball, now could she? And anyways, her old ones didn't fit so well anymore. She had grown in certain areas, and shrunk in others.

She headed over to Madam Malkins Robes for Every Occasion. Madam Malkin was busy with some, by the looks of it, first years getting their robes fitted, so Hermione went ahead over to the dress robes section and started looking. As it just so happened, they were having a sale, so there were a number or witches already there. She searched through them all, well, those that weren't in the hands of other witches.

She picked out a few to try on and went to the changing rooms. The first one, a black low-shouldered one, didn't fit right, even with the flick of her wand, the second, a sky blue one was a wee bit too tight for her liking. Her last one, and if truth be told, the one she really wanted, was a beautiful burgundy, long sleeved one. The top just fell slightly off her shoulders, and at the front, under her chest, it collected and then slightly flared out. It fit perfectly. Better then perfect even. She looked in the mirror and even she had to admit that she looked stunning. She looked at the price, and almost died. It was 10 sickles. 'That's is??"' she thought. 'Oh man, I hit the jackpot with this one!'

Hermione went to the front, paid for her dress and went out into the sunshine. Her mood was dampened by seeing the one person she hated most in this world. Draco Malfoy. Luckily, however, he wasn't looking in her direction, his attention was directed at the new brooms in the shop windows. She quickly walked the opposite direction, and decided to get some ice cream.

After her ice cream, she saw that it was time to meet her friends. 'Wow, how time flies' she thought. She walked over to Flourish and Blotts, thanking her luck that she didn't run into Malfoy again. When she got to said meeting spot, she wasn't surprised that her friends weren't there yet. They had a habit of being late. She decided to sit down and wait for them.

"Hey, 'Mione, that you?" came Ron's voice from somewhere behind her. She got up, and turned around and threw her arms around Ron. He was a lot taller then she remembered. She only came up to the middle of his chest!

"Yes, Ron, who else would it be?" she teased. She then gave both Harry and Ginny huge hugs and stood back to see if there were any changes in them. Ron was taller, not quite so gangly anymore, thanks to Quiddich. His blue eyes glistened in the sunlight. Harry was also taller, only slightly shorter then Ron, his black hair as messy as ever. He didn't look like he starved this summer though. He was incredibly well built now. His green eyes shimmered with happiness. Ginny was taller as well, but still close to Hermione's own 5'9". Her flaming red hair was longer then before, and fell loose about her shoulders. She was still rather thin, but didn't look unhealthy anymore, and her turquoise eyes glistened.

'Wow Hermione, you certainly have changed!" Ginny squealed.

Hermione's bushy hair had finally calmed down, and was sleek and straight. Her teeth, having been fixed years ago, looked like pearls. Her skin was flawless, and she had filled out a lot in some areas. Mainly her chest and hips. She now had an aura of confidence, and seemed, well, a bit less bookish. Hermione could see the admiration in her friends' eyes.

"Yes, well, Gin, we all change, you guys have too. So, how was the summer?" Hermione replied.

They talked about their summers, and Quiddich, and that this was their last year (except for Ginny, being a year behind them). They got their books, new quills and ink, Ron insisted on getting something for his broom, and Harry wanted to get something for Hedwig.

Later in the afternoon, they decided it was time to go back to Hermione's place to get some dinner. Molly Weasley had agreed to let her children (and Harry, since she considered him one of her own) go to dinner at the Granger's, provided they were home at a decent hour. They had to pack, she had said to them.

They were just walking into the pub when they heard a silky voice they all dreaded to hear.

"I see a poor boy, and his poor sister with their second hand books, a boy with no parents and a filthy mudblood. Who else could it be but the Weasels, Potty and Granger? How nice." Malfoy smirked.

"Oh look, a talking, bouncing ferret. Who else could that be but Malfoy" Ron seethed, turning around.

"Of course it's a Malfoy, only we hold the power to put people in their places" Another smirk. "Especially filthy know it all mudbloods.

Hermione was not having any of this. Not today. She wiped around, slapped him across the face.

"If you ever call me that fucking name again, so help me Merlin, you'll never be able to have kids" Hermione snapped. She turned on her heels, walked into the Leaky Cauldron, with the others following shortly behind her.

'Wow, she certainly has changed, and for the better I must say' thought Malfoy, watching her retreating figure. Her pants fit her incredibly well, revealing, but leaving lots to the imagination. Her hair didn't look like a dead animal, and she actually had makeup on.

'This will defiantly be an interesting year"