The train pulled up to the station in Hogsmeade and the students were stepping out. Hermione and Draco had to stay behind and wait for Dumbledore to give them orders for the procedures. They waited until the last student had exited the train and Dumbledore entered their compartment.
The fight that Hermione and Draco had been having the entire ride was interrupted when the headmaster entered the room. He sat down next to Hermione with Draco in front and he began to speak.
"Now there are some different regulations that are placed for the head students. I must speak to you quickly so I can get into the great hall to introduce the new students and present the welcome back speech. Ok so 1. Your curfew is 12 midnight unlike the Prefects 11 and the student's 10:30 curfews. The hour that you have is used to patrol the halls along with the caretaker to look for any hidden students and potential problems for example, any Weasley Wizard Wheezes, they are particularly dangerous. 2. You both will receive times tables used for an hour of extra sleep, they have a limit to allow an hour time lapse, and they are to be used in the dorm room ONLY. And last, 3. You will share living quarters this year and the current password is Haley's Chocolate Comets. Now be off, you have patrolling to do." He handed them their time turners, and exited the compartment in haste.
Draco looked at Hermione in confusion, he didn't want to ask for her help but he needed to know how to work the time turner. Hermione shook her head as he asked the question and told him that she would show him how when they got to the new dorm. For now they had to get inside before the train left the station.
Both of them left the train to find one left over carriage Hermione stepped in first and levitated her bags in behind her. Draco followed in suit. The carriage started to move toward the castle but the mood inside remained silent, no one felt like speaking to the other. The carriage moved slowly up to the front doors, and when they reached it, they were the only people there.
Draco stood outside of the carriage and waited for Hermione before they continued to the doors. Hermione was confused as to why he waited for her but shrugged it off, they walked through the heavy oak doors and into the hallway where a house elf met them and took their things to the Head Student's dorm while Hermione and Draco continued to the Great Hall.
The great hall was filled with the chatter of students as each new 1st year was sorted. Hermione walked to the right side of the room and Draco to the left. Hermione sat down quietly next to Ron and poked him to get his attention.
"Harry, Hermione's finally here! Jeez Hermione we were looking for you, how come you weren't in the carriage with us?" Ron asked her and Harry just nodded in agreement. Hermione flashed a smile and pulled out the Head Girl Badge. Ron beamed at her but Harry looked very upset.
"Hermione! Wow. That's the coolest thing that's happened to the one of us this summer. Now who is the Head Boy? Zabini? Jordan? Thompson?" Ron questioned.
"I wish; it's Malfoy." Hermione sneered. Ron's mouth dropped and Harry slammed his fist down on the table.
"WHAT! Tell me you're kidding, please. How could Dumbledore pick him over me?" Hermione was shocked, she knew being Head Boy was very important to him but how could he be so jealous of Draco?
Hermione begged him to chill out since he was making a scene; Harry just leaned back in his chair and sulked while Dumbledore ended the sorting with the speech. Hermione just ate her dinner in the silence and with the first chance she got, she left the hall and walked up to the new dorm with the password Haley's Chocolate Comets. Had she been in a better mood that day, she would have marveled over the elegant decoration of entry room, instead she stormed over to the couch, sat down, and screamed into the pillow beside her.
"I hate them; I hate them, I HATE THEM!" Hermione had been tipped over the edge, how could Harry not be happy for her, actually he had been downright cruel to her. It hadn't been all about Harry though, her parents had been avoiding her all summer and hadn't even cried as they said goodbye to her for the last time for 2 years. That alone sent a tear down her cheek. Maybe they hadn't felt so bad about it after all. Back at home she had over heard them talking about the vacation that they would finally be able to take that summer since Hermione wouldn't be home. Hermione had started wondering if she had just in their way. Did she mean anything to them at all? It hurt her deeply to think about conversation and she felt tears sting in her eyes but she pushed them back and lay on her side while flashbacks of her younger days clouded her vision.
The door opened and Draco walked into the room and saw Hermione's body, shaking on the couch. He wondered what was wrong with her but then knew that she was crying when he heard her sniff and breath hard. He just rolled his eyes and continued to his own dorm room, He changed from his robes into his black basketball shorts and a white tee to sleep in. The entire time he was thinking about what could be troubling her so much, the only time that she ever cried was when he said something pertaining to her parents and when her, potty head, and weasel would go at it. He shrugged it off, realizing it wasn't his fault this time, and got into the warm bed in front of him while Hermione lay on the couch, crying herself to sleep over the realization that she had just been a mistake to her parents.
Hermione fell asleep and her mind drifted to the conversation between her mother and father on the day that she had gotten the letter from Hogwarts.
"This is great Madeline, we had been thinking about a private boarding school for her for quite some time that would challenge her, now she has gone and gotten into one all by herself." Her father and told her mother. Hermione was too young and excited to understand the full meaning to what her dad had said. He would finally have Hermione out of the house.
She remembered all of the summers where she would be in daycare while her parents went to work and did extra things; they would always have her spend the nights at her friends' houses. When she came home for the summer, after her year at Hogwarts, they would ask her if she wanted to spend half of the summer with Ron, the entire time she thought that they just wanted her to keep up with friends, now she new otherwise. It just clicked that their trip to Rome had been because, for what Hermione thought, they wanted to keep her from finding out their game. She started to wonder if the solemn attitude that her father had at the dinner table was just an act and if the joy in the car was the real thing. The tears continued to flow as she went over these things in her head as she slept.
Back at the Granger household Mr. Granger was at home with his wife and the address book in hand. They were laughing and making phone calls to all of their friends for the party that they had been planning for 2 weeks before Hermione went back to school. They had bought her the apartment that she had been wanting and were now about to host a renovation party where they had their friends help them make it the dream flat for their Daughter. They were a bit sad that they wouldn't be seeing her for a while but just like any parents with teens, they couldn't wait until the day that they had the house to themselves again, they felt that buying her the apartment would keep her out. They were proud of her career accomplishments and rejoiced in the fact that she wouldn't be 37 and still living at home, unlike their friend Jaime's son, and decided to reward her. They continued their invitations, oblivious to the fact that their daughter was ripping inside because of the suspicions that she had been having about her parent's intentions.