A/N- Hey! So, so sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I got wrapped up in life and kinda just forgot about it /
But I hope you enjoy it all the same!
Disclaimer- Anything you recognize isn't mine.
Despite her worst fears, Hermione did go straight through the wall and, to her horror, almost ran a boy several years older than her with messy brown hair and a friendly smile over with her trolley.
"First time?" he asked, chuckling at Hermione's slight grimace and nod. He stepped out of the way of the trolley, letting Hermione come more onto the platform before holding out his hand. "Benjy Fenwick. Sixth year Ravenclaw."
"Hermione Evans," she replied quietly, shrinking in on herself slightly as Granger gasped.
"Nice to meet you, Evans," he told her before raising his hand in greeting to someone else and excusing himself.
Hermione took a few deep breaths, Granger rattling on in her head about her first time on the train, before pulling her trunk aboard and lifting it onto the rack in an empty compartment and thanking God that Granger insisted she beg her parents to splurge on a lightweight trunk.
'I can't believe Lily ran off, leaving us alone,' raged Granger in her head as Hermione sat down, looking especially small in the large compartment. She took a few deep breaths before pulling a book, Pride and Prejudice, out of her duffle bag.
"Evans!"
Hermione frowned at her last name being called in down the train corridor. She set her book down on the seat and peeked out of the compartment where she could see the back of her sister's and Snape's heads. Looking beyond them, Hermione saw a group of four boys, two with black hair, one with light brown, and one with washed-out-blond hair. Without even seeing their faces Hermione knew who it was from both Lily and Granger's descriptions.
Remus Lupin. Peter Pettigrew. Sirius Black. And James Potter.
From Granger's stories, she was friends with, and very fond of, Remus and Sirius, she didn't know James, as she was happily living as a two year old muggle toddler when he was killed, and for some reason that she would not explain to Hermione, hated Peter. 'He's not the person I knew, yet, he might not ever be,' was Granger's reasoning for not telling her, which the young witch just huffed at.
"What do you want, Potter?" spat Snape in a voice Hermione had never heard before. Granger just sighed.
"Nothing having to do with you, Snape, just wanted to ask Evans, here, if she had a good holiday. Nothing wrong with that, is there?" came the reply from one of the black-haired boys, James Potter.
Snape snarled at the other boy and Hermione could tell from her sister's stance that Lily was glaring at the group of boys.
"It was fine, Potter," snapped Lily before ducking her head into a compartment and murmuring something before moving back out.
"Who ya' looking for?" asked Sirius curiously.
Lily clearly hesitated but was saved the trouble when Remus piped up, "Isn't this your sister's first year? Hermione, right?"
"I ran onto the platform before her and have been looking for her everywhere," the redhead admitted, nodding. Her tone clearly conveyed worry.
Hermione decided it was time to speak up and softly called, "Lils."
Lily spun around, sighing in relief at the sight of her younger sister. "Oh, Hermione, thank God, I was waiting for you on the platform, but you didn't come for a while."
"I was saying bye to Mum and Dad. And Petunia," said Hermione in a small voice. Granger was rattling on in her head about this conversation not going well, but Hermione was decidedly ignoring her.
"Petunia?" snapped Snape, looking between the two of them. "What was she doing here?"
Hermione thought she was very tolerant of people, in fact, she prided herself on her it, but Snape was one of the few people who did not make the very long list. His name was on the other list along with Gary Summers, a boy who had tried kissing Hermione on the playground when they were nine and ignored Hermione's vert blatant refusal.
"Well, she is our sister," Hermione said dryly, glancing over at him and ignoring both the boy's snickers and Granger's, 'You tell him, Hermione!'
Snape turned to Lily. "She called you a freak."
Lily looked between the two, Snape and Hermione, before shrugging. "It's not like I'll ever be best friends with her again, but we do kind of live in the same house." She glanced at the four boys before rolling her eyes and turning to Hermione. "I've saved you a seat in our compartment, Hermione."
"Oh, I—I already have one," admitted Hermione and Lily's smile dimmed.
"We can move you," she offered.
Hermione chewed her lip, "I'm not sure he—" she glanced pointedly at Snape, "—would like that."
"Of course, he would. Sev adores you, Hermione." Both Snape and Hermione blanched and Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter, snorted. Lily tilted her head, looking at the both of them. "Well, maybe not, but still, you're my sister."
"It's fine, Lily. 'Sides, I might not even make it in Gryffindor, I'll have to make my own friends."
Lily flinched slightly at the words and shook her head. "Of course, you'll be in Gryffindor, but, if you're sure?"
She exchanged a look with Snape and, with one final glare at the four boys, they went back to their compartment.
"So, you're Evan's sister?"
She nodded hesitantly at Sirius. Remus elbowed him and turned to Hermione, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry about him, he doesn't understand the word polite. I'm Remus Lupin. Lily's told everyone so much about you."
Hermione winced. "Really?"
"Loads," interrupted Sirius. "Like that you're the sweetest person ever and you're going to love it here so much and she's so excited for you to come and all her friends would love you. She even told old Jamsie, here—" he reached over to clap his friend on the shoulder, "—and everyone knows she hates him."
Hermione looked at him with distrust clear on her face, trying to see if he was joking before looking back at Remus, "If it helps, she's told me a lot about you all as well."
All four boys winced and Hermione laughed.
"Everything from you're somehow good at transfiguration and it's completely unfair, to you all are total bullies to Snape. I'm not sold on the latter, though, I know very well he can dish out what he takes."
All four grinned at her and she took a half step back.
"Anyway," she continued hastily, "I left my book unattended and I should really get back to it before I lose my page." She waved at them slightly before turning on her heel and going back into her compartment, where she sat down and picked up her book again.
The train started to move and Hermione stared blankly at the words on the pages of her book before sighing and closing her eyes, sliding down so she was laying on her back on the seat. 'Sleep, Hermione,' urged the voice in her head, 'It's gonna be a long night.'
The young witch silently begged the older one to let her sleep dreamlessly and Granger relented. Since she had gotten her Hogwarts letter, Granger had been forcing memories into her head, vivid, clear memories that portrayed Granger with her friends and their adventures all around the castle. So far, Hermione had seen up to the summer before third year, when Sirius Black—the one Lily went on and on about being mates with the bane of her existence, James Potter—escaped Azkaban.
When she woke back up, there was a boy across from her, reading a book, Hogwarts: a History, a book that Granger made Hermione read three times already.
"Oh, you're awake," said the boy, looking up at her with a small smile. His dark eyes seemed kind and, in her head, Granger gasped dramatically, 'Merlin's pants! That's Kingsley Shacklebolt.' "This probably looks really bad, but I tried waking you. You must've been exhausted, though, you didn't even stir." His cheeks burned darker. "I'm Kingsley, by the way, Kingsley Shacklebolt."
'Called it,' Granger bragged and Hermione wished, not for the first time, that she had some sort of control of the older woman. Instead, the brunette reached out a hand, "Hermione Evans."
"Nice to meet you," he said, shaking her hand and grinning. Kingsley gestured beside him, where a small pile of sweets lay, "Want any? I went way overboard."
"Erm, sure. Do you have any chocolate?" Internally, Granger was cooing over the interaction and Hermione bit her tongue hard to keep from snapping aloud and making herself look crazy in front of Kingsley.
The dark skinned boy looked offended she even had to ask, tossing over a package the size of her hand labeled Chocolate Frogs. Being a sucker for all types of chocolate, Hermione easily ripped open the package, letting out a small scream when the chocolate, shaped as a frog, hopped out of the packaging and onto Hermione's knee.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were muggleborn," the boy apologized. "You are muggleborn, right?"
Hermione nodded, staring at the chocolate that was sitting on her knee trying her best to ignore Granger's full blown, head-thrown-back laughter.
"Yeah, chocolate frogs only have the one good hop in them," said Kingsley, shrugging. "Go on, pick it up."
The young witch did so hesitantly as Granger breathlessly said, 'Sorry, sorry, I forgot to tell you, but that was outstanding, Merlin,' she sighed and Hermione glared at the frog, which was wiggling and smearing chocolate over her fingers. Very slowly, Hermione bit of the frog's foot, surprised to taste the creamy milk chocolate that she adored.
"Good, isn't it?" asked Kingsley knowingly and Hermione nodded.
"Kingsley, there you are! You'd better put on your robes, I imagine we'll be there soon," came a voice from the doorway. Hermione looked over where a tall, dark skinned girl was standing. Kingsley groaned.
"Hermione, meet Kenya, she's my older sister. Kenya, this is Hermione Evans," Kingsley introduced. 'That's odd, Kingsley never had any siblings in my time,' whispered Granger.
"Nice to meet you, Hermione," said Kenya.
Hermione ignored the woman in her head and instead smiled, "You too."
Kenya grinned at her and turned to Kingsley, "I'm serious, we'll be there soon."
"All right, all right, I've got it." Kinglsey pushed her out the door while she just laughed and pushed him off, exiting on her own.
Hermione grinned at Kingsley. "She seems nice."
"Oh, don't be fooled, she's a nightmare, honestly," groaned Kingsley. 'Aw, Kingsley's such a cute eleven year old,' cooed Granger and it was all Hermione could do from scrunching up her nose, telling the woman not to say things like that about her classmates, especially ones that she hoped to be her friends.
Not voicing this aloud however, Hermione focused back on what Kingsley had said and laughed, grabbing her bag from the seat. "All right, I'm going to go find the loo to change."
Kingsley nodded, closing the door behind her so he could change.
Hermione easily made her way through the corridor to the loo, internally sighing as she asked Granger what she should expect. 'Oh, I can't spoil it for you, darling,' she said, and Hermione could imagine her grinning mischievously. She entered the bathroom, quickly changing into her robes and exiting again, heading back to the compartment where she knocked on the door to make sure Kingsley was done changing.
He opened the door and made room for her to come in. Sure enough, less than ten minutes later, the train came to a stop and several voices were heard coming from outside the door. Kingsley opened their compartment door again and the two shuffled into the crowd heading to the exit.
"Firs' years' this way," boomed a loud voice. "O'er here, firs' years."Hermione looked over to the voice and blinked a few times in surprise. The voice came from the biggest man Hermione had ever seen. His boots were the size of Hermione's torso, his hands the size of her head. He must've been at least one and half regular men tall and three times as wide. Hermione felt ridiculous standing next to him and laughter started to bubble up in her throat.
"Of course there's giants," she muttered, she ignored the cackle in her head from Granger. Hermione jumped slightly when Kingsley leaned over to whisper in her ear, "that's Hagrid, and he's only half giant."
Her eyes widened and Kingsley laughed. They made their way to the platform near the lake where the rest of the first years were and looked up at Hagrid.
"We'll be goin' to Hogwarts by boat," he told them.
"By boat?" A voice came from next to Kingsley.
Hermione looked over to see a boy slightly shorter than Kingsley with ink-tinged black hair that fell into his eyes and over his ears ('No bloody way!' squealed Granger and Hermione nearly gasped out loud. Granger was pretty good about minding her language and if she just cursed with no hesitation, this boy must be a big deal.) Hagrid glared slightly at the boy.
"Yea. By boat."
The boy wrinkled his nose slightly and huffed.
Hagrid looked at the boy a moment longer before addressing the rest of the first years, "Now, it's three to a boat, so go on an' get in."
Hermione followed his instructions and carefully climbed into a boat. Kingley came in after her and was followed by the dark haired boy. 'Now,' instructed Granger, 'I'm not telling you that you have to befriend this boy, but you might want to seriously consider it. He's extremely loyal but he has a bad home life.'
"Hello," said Kingsley.
"Hello."
Kingsley looked slightly disappointed, making Granger coo softly in her head, but recovered almost instantly, he tried again, "I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt."
The boy looked at him for a moment. "Regulus Black."
Kingsley smiled, "nice to meet you, Regulus."
Regulus nodded and looked at Hermione.
"Hermione Granger."
"I'm not sure I've heard of the Granger family before." Regulus looked thoughtful almost and Kingsley winced.
"Well, you probably wouldn't. I'm amuggleborn."
"Are you really? I've never met a muggleborn before," said Regulus. Hermione looked confused. "Is it true you burn witches and wizards? That's what Mother says happens, but we live by a muggle park and I've never seen a burning."
"Is that what all wizards believe, that muggles are some sort of fascinating creatures," said Hermione indignantly as Granger let out a disbelieving gasp and started to rant about purebloods.
"Not all wizards," amended Kingsley, "but the Blacks are notoriously prejudiced."
"Not all of us," cried Regulus, looking slightly insulted.
"So you don't have a problem with my heritage?"
"I haven't decided yet, I mean you seem nice enough, but you might actually be really odd," declared Regulus, studying Hermione, whose lips twitched as Granger laughed delighted in her head.
"I've been with her almost the entire ride to Hogwarts," defended Kingsley, "she's not odd."
Regulus smiled slightly and nodded. "All right then, no, I don't have a problem with your heritage."
'You know, I think I'm really going to enjoy being in your head,' mused Granger, her voice filled with amusement. Hermione's lips twitched again and instead of holding it back, she burst into laughter, ignoring the confused look on her new friends' faces. However, her laughter turned into a gasp as Hogwarts came into view.
"Wow," whispered Hermione, her eyes bright and shining ('Beautiful, isn't it?').
"Yeah." Kingsley didn't even look away from the castle.
The three stayed quiet the rest of the short ride, their eyes wide and fixated on the castle. Minutes later the boats docked and the three got out of the small boat. They followed Hagrid up to the castle and were carefully handed over to Professor McGonagall.
McGonagall faced the group of students, a stern expression on her face. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
Hermione looked around, Kingsley was looking up at McGonagall in admiration and Regulus was blinking up at her innocently. The young brunette's brow furrowed in confusion as she asked Granger where the speech was. 'What were you expecting?' Hermione bit her lip, shrugging slightly and Granger laughed delightfully. Hermione looked past her new friends and saw that no one else seemed dimmed by the basic welcome. She shrugged it off and focused back on McGonagall.
"The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." McGonagall's eyes scanned the crowd. "The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule—breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarted yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes traveled to a boy's coat that had fallen off one shoulder before glancing over at a girl whose hair was falling into her eyes. Hermione quickly smoothed down the front of her robes, exhaling deeply.
"I will return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
McGonagall left the room and chatter broke out amongst the students. Hermione eagerly looked around, noticing the stone walls and iron-clad torches. 'I've got to teach you the warming charm as soon as possible.' The young witch agreed, Scotland was cold on a regular day, not to mention one where Hermione was trapped in drafty stone walls.
"Hermione?" Kingsley waved his hand at her. She blinked, shaking her head slightly.
"Sorry," she offered.
Kingsley nodded, "I was just asking you what you think your favorite class will be."
"Oh, well from what I've read," started Hermione ignoring Grangers remark of 'You mean what I've told you!' and looking at her friend. "Charms seems the most practical, so I'm looking forward to it."
"Really? But doesn't defense against the dark arts sound cool?"
Hermione nodded and smiled at Kingsley. "I'm sure you'll love it."
"Potions will obviously be the best class," said Regulus pompously. "Imagine brewing things like polyjuice potion or felix felicis."
Kingsley rolled his eyes, "those are highly advanced potions, Regulus, we won't brew those until at least sixth year."
"Yeah," agreed Regulus before adding dreamily, "but can you imagine?"
The other two eleven year olds were saved from a response by the arrival of McGonagall again. Granger squealed excitedly, 'Here we go!'
"They are ready for you," she said. "Now, follow me, the Sorting Ceremony is about to start."
The first years followed her into a big hall that could probably fit the entire Evan's home twice. McGonagall stopped beside a three legged stool that had an old looking hat sitting atop it. Hermione jumped in surprise as the brim of the hat opened and started singing.
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
The Hall burst into applause and Hermione clapped along, if not a bit slower than the rest. 'Huh, that was the same song I had at my sorting.'
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," said McGonagall and Hermione dug her nails into the palm of her hands, biting her lip nervously.
"Avery, Liam."
A short boy with dark blond hair went and sat on the stool. McGonagall dropped the hat onto his head where it went below his ears and covered his eyes. The Hall was silent all of three seconds before the hat cried out, "SLYTHERIN!"
The table furthest to the left broke out in applause as the boy walked over and McGonagall let the cheers happen for about five seconds before calling the next name.
"Bertram, Audrey."
This time a small girl with freckles went up. The hat stayed on her head longer before shouting, "HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table furthest to the right cheered and McGonagall moved on.
"Black, Regulus."
Regulus gulped slightly beside her and walked confidently to the hat. It stayed on his head for almost a minute before calling out, "SLYTHERIN!"
He gave a small smile before going to join the cheering table.
There were several more names called, including Cresswell, Peter—Gryffindor—and Delaney, Kate—Hufflepuff—but the rest simply blurred together for Hermione until her name was called.
"Evans, Hermione."
Hermione calmed her breathing and bit her lip slightly as she walked up to the hat. She sat on the stool and closed her eyes as the hat fell over her head.
'Oh, Miss Evans,' she heard in her head, however it wasn't Granger's voice, but a old, creaky voice and Hermione jumped at the intrusion. 'Pardon me, I didn't know someone else was already in here.'
'How do you know about me?' demanded Granger.
'It's all in Miss Evans' head, of course,' answered the hat. 'Now, Miss Granger, you were a Gryffindor. Your protege would do well there. It's where her sister wants her to go.'
'Over my dead body,' snarled Granger and Hermione's eyes widened at the hostile tone as she listened to the two voices converse in her head. 'Listen here, you dimwitted hat—'
'Dimwitted? I'll have you know I was Godric Gryffindor's hat. I was enchanted by none other than Rowena Ravenclaw. Salazar Slytherin blessed me with his magic. And Helga Hufflepuff sewed her magical patches into me, herself! I'm anything but dimwitted!'
'Oh, honestly, the whole point of me being here is to guide Hermione,' reported Granger, 'my guidance is to avoid attracting Dumbledore's attention and if you keep babbling on about your own accomplishments, then she'll be a hatstall! That's sure to attract the old coot's attention.'
'You don't trust the headmaster?'
'Isn't that what I just said,' snapped Granger and Hermione winced as the two voices raged war in her head. 'Sorry, love, don't mean to give you a headache.'
Hermione peeked out from under the rim of the hat, the entire Hall was looking at her and she chewed her lip.
'All right, all right, you don't want Gryffindor,' sighed the hat.
"I've bled that red once, I'll never let anyone do it again,' promised Granger.
'Well, there's no way she can go into Slytherin without attracting Dumbledore's attention, and she'd not be able to do anything in Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw's not the right place for her either, though,' the hat told them. 'What do you say, Miss Evans?'
'Me?' thought Hermione, 'I want to do what Granger says, I want to save my sister and James Potter, I don't want Harry Potter to suffer like he did in her time.'
'Jeez, what'd you tell her?' cried the hat.
'Only the important bits. Now, please, hat, for the love of Merlin and Moragana, will you sort Hermione into Ravenclaw? It's the only reasonable place.'
'Fine,' agreed the hat before shouting aloud, "RAVENCLAW!"
Hermione swallowed as McGonagall took the hat off her head. She made her way over to the cheering table right next to the Slytherin one, catching Kingsley's eye. He grinned, giving her a thumbs up.
Over at the Gryffindor table, however, Lily was not so pleased. The redhead mouthed over, 'what happened?'
Hermione's heart dropped and she forced a smile on her face—which she was sure came out to be a grimace—shrugging her shoulders. 'I'm sorry, love, I'm so sorry. If there was any other way, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but there's nothing else we can do,' sighed Granger in her head. Hermione was quick to assure her that it was fine, that it was her choice to listen to the older witch, making Granger beam at her. She focused back on Lily, who was still looking at her with sad eyes as she leaned in to hear what a girl around her was saying. The redhead glanced away and even though Hermione was staring at her with pleading eyes, she didn't look back.
"Hermione, nice to see you in Ravenclaw." The young witch looked over to the boy she crashed into on the platform sticking his hand out. "I knew you'd be a Ravenclaw, but I wasn't expecting you to be a hatstall, we haven't had such a good one in all the years I've been here. You were up there for nearly ten minutes."
"Benjy Fenwick, right?" checked Hermione as she shook his hand.
He nodded, smiling at her. "I'm the sixth year prefect, and the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain, so if you need anything, don't hesitate to come to me, all right?"
"Okay," she agreed quietly as the table burst into applause and Kingsley joined her, immediately shaking hands with Benjy and grinning at the older boy.
"You're Kenya's younger brother, right? Nice girl. I'd kill to have her on our quidditch team she's a right good seeker," noted Benjy.
Hermione tuned out the conversation as she focused on the sorting, although she didn't really take anything in. Mercifully, Granger was silent, letting her think in peace. She was still zoned out during the meal and Dumbledore's speech as well as the trip back to Ravenclaw, where she listened to the prefects greet everyone and introduce them to the House.
"Ravenclaw is the house of intelligence, but that doesn't mean we always know everything. If you need help, ask for it. Don't let your grades suffer because of your pride," said the female sixth year prefect, Millicent Bagnold ('Merlin! She's the future Minister of Magic!'). "If you do need something, feel free to come to any prefect, however if it's big, we'd prefer you come to me or Benjy. As we're in our sixth year, we don't have major tests, unlike fifth and sixth years. Any questions?"
The first years all shook their heads and Millicent beamed at them.
"I'm sure you'll love it here in Ravenclaw."
Kingsley grinned at Hermione and she forced a smile back at him. He frowned at the grimace that came out and pulled her over to a chair. "You okay?"
"Fine, I guess."
"You guess?" He looked amused but quickly sobered when tears welled up in her eyes.
"Lily hates me now. Ever since we've had magic all she and Petunia have done is argue and now it's going to include me, too. I don't want to fight with them about something I have no control over," whispered Hermione, her voice cracking.
"Erm, please don't cry. I'm sorry," blurted out Kingsley, looking extremely awkward as he patted her shoulder.
Luckily he didn't have to do it long because Millicent and Benjy wondered over, asking them if they had any questions about starting Hogwarts. When she saw Hermione's tears, which started to roll silently down her cheeks, Millicent gathered the younger witch into her arms.
"Oh, love," she cooed softly, smoothing down Hermione's hair. "It's all right. It's all going to be all right."
"She's just so disappointed in me," cried Hermione into Millicent's shoulder.
"No, she might be disappointed, but not at you, love."
After a few more weak protests, Hermione pulled back, her cheeks tinged pink as she rubbed at her cheeks to dry her tears.
"I'm—I'm sorry," said Hermione in a weak voice.
"Nothing to apologize for, Hermione," said Benjy, his voice firm but soft. He grinned at her, "Besides, Millicent was the same way."
The older witch hit Benjy on the shoulder and he ducked behind Hermione, his long, lanky frame barely being covered by her small one.