A New Beginning

Chapter 1 – A New Beginning

The day dawned dimly over Privet Drive as a ten year old girl, named Hermione Granger slept. She had very bushy brown hair, chocolate colored eyes, and a best friend who was the light of her life. Her best friend was a scraggly looking boy, who just happened to live right next door, a boy known to the whole of the wizarding world as "the boy who lived.

But, of course, neither Hermione, nor the boy, Harry Potter knew of the fantastical world of magic, and witches and wizards.

"Hermione, dear, it's time for you to wake up," her mother called to her. "You've got some mail.

Hermione rolled on to her side and stretched. She wasn't sure who in the world would be writing to her. She had never received a letter before, so she figured it was a joke.

"Coming mum," Hermione yelled, as she started to get dressed.

Harry Potter had been up since the crack of dawn, trying to figure out how to steal one of the letters, which had been arriving for him for the past fortnight.

Little did he realize that the girl next door, his secret crush, Hermione had also received a letter from the same place.

Harry had set the alarm clock for early in the morning, in order to receive the letter, but as he crept downstairs, he noticed a dark spot close to the door. As he moved towards it, it moved slightly.

Harry froze as the dark spot moved, and then settled back into place. Harry's heart had started pounding as he crept closer to the door, and set one foot in front of the other.

Hermione quickly went downstairs, and was surprised when she saw both of her parents were still home, since they generally went into work early, so whenever they were home was a big surprise to her.

"Good morning dear," her father called to her. "Your letter is over here.

Hermione looked over to the table, and sure enough there was a letter for her, with the writing on the envelope shining in emerald green ink.

Hermione's hands shook as she opened the envelope, since she didn't know who could be writing to her, and for what reason they wanted to write to her. It simply did not make any sense for her to be getting any mail.

As she took the letter out of the envelope and opened it, the envelope blew off, almost like magic. Hermione chucked at her whimsy, as magic didn't exsist outside of fairy tales.

She looked at the letter, and her jaw dropped almost to the floor at what she was reading.

Dear Miss Granger,


We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your response no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Harry crept closer to the door, and all of a sudden, he stepped into something squishy. There was a very loud scream, and a light flicked on overhead.

The squishy thing turned out to be his Uncle Vernon's face.

Harry had endured several minutes of his uncle's angry rants about what made him such an ungrateful brat, and then he was told to go and make some tea.

Harry's stride slowed considerably. He had again failed to get one of the mysterious letters, and he had not been able to get past his only family.

Hermione dropped the letter as she heard the shouting again, coming from next door. To her and her family, it appeared as if shouting Vernon Dursley was good at. Yelling at his nephew seemed to be the only thing in his life that gave him any joy.

Any time Hermione was within earshot of the yelling, she would start crying, since she cared about Harry so much.

It always hurt her parents so much to see her shedding tears for the boy next door, since they did not approve of him as a friend for their baby girl, however polite he was with them, and never doing anything with Hermione, without their permission. They believed he was such a troublemaker, since he was always being yelled at for one reason, or another, especially since they had heard that he had set a boa constrictor on his cousin, and his friend. When they repeated the story to Hermione, she had giggled so much and just said, "There's no way Harry could do that.

Hermione was startled when Harry told her that the Dursleys were running away from something. He wouldn't tell her what they were running from, since he personally believed it was ridiculous to run away from someone trying to send you a letter, but he couldn't tell her that as Uncle Vernon smashed the door open to get him to hurry up.

Vernon Dursley drove, and drove, and drove some more, stopping every so often, trying to find something. What that something was no one, except Vernon knew.

When asked, he would answer anyone, since he hated questions. That's the first thing that his aunt and uncle had told him. "Don't ask questions," they had warned him, but like all children, he was inquisitive.

Whenever he dared ask a question, they would either snap "Don't ask questions," at him, or just ignore him, and force him back into the cupboard under the stairs.

Eventually Vernon Dursley found a perfect spot. He had finally found the thing he had been looking for.

He ordered everyone out of the car, and then pointed to a rock out in the ocean, as if to say "That's where we're going," and then he really did say it.

There was a small boat perched near them, and he entered it first, and then motioned for Harry to row them all out to the rock.

It was very grueling work, but eventually they got to their destination.

Hermione's parents left for work, and Hermione was left to herself. She read and reread the letter, trying to figure out if this was a practical joke, or was it indeed real?

As she read the letter for a fourth time, she noticed a second piece of paper she was sure hadn't been there before.

She looked through the list of supplies, and was startled to see a wand listed. Maybe this was real, after all.

Harry lay awake late that night, not able to get to sleep, not even though his birthday was the next day.

At midnight, a loud bang shook the door of the hut on the rocky island, and Vernon came into the room, followed by Petunia, just in time to see the door smashed in, and a giant of a man enter the hut.

He gave Harry a letter, the same one that he had been trying to get at Privet Drive, and Harry felt his heart race.

He was finally leaving the Dursley's. Then his heart fell. He realized he wouldn't see Hermione for a year.

Hermione's face fell as she reread the letter. She and Harry both were supposed to go to Stonewall together, but now it appeared as if Harry would be going alone.