Disclaimer: If you think I'm JKR, I'm flattered, but I'm not and I don't own anything.

Here's the next chapter everybody. I hope you like it. By the way, I probably won't post many chapters this week because I'm going to YEC with my church this week and I might be kind ofbusy. No guarantees, though, hope you like the next chap.

I wandered down the hallway on the Hogwarts Express. I hadn't imagined it this way. I didn't know anyone here at all. Most of the compartments were full. I didn't really know what to do.

"Hello," I said nervously when I had found a compartment halfway empty. "I was wondering, would it be okay if I sit here with you? All the other compartments are full and –"

"We don't associate with your type." One of them sneered. I looked at the boy; he was the boy from the garden; my friend, Draco. What had happened to him?

"My type?" I asked meekly.

"You know perfectly well what we mean." A girl sneered. "You don't belong here. Quit wasting our time."

"Fine." I said and then left the compartment. I sat down in the hallway and started to cry; the girl was right, I didn't belong here at all, and Draco…

"Are you okay?" A boy asked.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine." I pulled myself up and forced a smile. "My name's Hermione, by the way."

"My name's Neville." He smiled, "I'm not having a good first day, either."

"What happened?"

"Well, before I got on the train I lost my toad and couldn't find it for the longest time and then after that Lee Jordan let loose a huge, hairy spider on me and, well, I've lost my toad again. My gran won't be too happy."

"I could help you look." I said, "We could ask around the compartments." She looked at the cabin she had just stepped out of, "Except for that one. I didn't see any toads in there when I was there." Not that I was really looking for one, I thought to myself.

Neville and I must've looked through about a hundred compartments, but we didn't find a thing. Both of us were about to give up, but then we decided Neville's toad, Trevor, was at least worth one more compartment.

"Has anyone seen a toad?" I asked, "Neville's lost one."

"We've already told him we haven't seen it." A boy with flaming red hair said. He had had his wand out before I had even walked in. It looked like he was about to do magic.

"Oh, are you doing magic?" I asked, "Let's see it then."

I was excited. I had tried a few spells, but I hadn't seen much magic at all. They all seemed so interesting. Personally, I couldn't wait for school to start.

"Er – alright," The boy said and then cleared his throat, "Sunshine, daisies, buttermellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!"

Nothing happened at all. There was a rather awkward silence until I asked, "Are you sure that's a real spell?" I paused; everyone was staring at me now. "Well, it's not a very good one is it? I tried a few simple spells for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course." The odd stares remained and I began talking faster. "I mean, it's the best school of witchcraft, I've heard. I've learn all our books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough – I'm Hermione Granger, by the way. Who are you?"

"I'm Ron Weasley," The boy with red hair muttered.

"Harry Potter." The other boy said.

"Are you really?" I asked, "I know all about you, of course – I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events in the 20th century."

"Am I?" Harry asked.

He didn't know?

"Goodness, didn't you know?" I asked, "I'd have found out everything I could if it was me." Harry was looking confuse and Ron was looking as if I had lost it, so I decided to change the subject. "Do either of you know which house you'll be sorted in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best. I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Well, anyway, we'd better go look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

Neville and I left. Maybe Hogwarts wouldn't beso bad after all.

So that's it. I hope you all liked it. Please review if you did.

Kaye Chan - Thanks, I'm really glad you like the story. Here's the next chapter.

mesaqt - Thanks, here's the next chapter. I hope you like it as much as the others.

jalapeno1011 - The garden didn't exactly turn into a graveyard, it just seemed like it because everything had died. Without the Malfoys there weren't many people to take care of the garden anymore, I guess. Here's the next chapter.

Lady Ghost Buster - I tried to add some more length to this chapter, but it's not much longer, I added more description though. I hope you like it. Here's the next chap.

cutiexoxo - I'm glad you like it.

Bowling4boys - I'm glad you like it.