Hermione was trying her best to be upbeat and happy, but it was gut-wrenching to say goodbye to everything and everyone that morning. The Burrow had been her home since the end of the war and now Charlie had her heart. She felt like she was leaving everything behind, for the first time, Hemione asked herself if she really wanted to go back. Of course, she did, she was just sad, but she knew this is what she wanted. She wanted to be respected and she wanted people to know that just because she was a war heroine it didn't mean that she would take the easy way. Hermione looked around her compartment. It was only the three girls in the compartment and, when Hermione thought about it, they all had something to bond over.
"This is going to be an emotionally hard year, isn't it?" she asked leaning her head back.
"I believe it'll get easier. We do have each other, right?" Luna asked.
"Yes," Ginny said, "it will be hard, but we will get through it. We can write letters and they'll come to see us on Hogsmeade weekends. Hermione's owl or the school owls will be able to pick up and drop of multiple letters at once," Ginny grinned
"That's true," Hermione smiled. "Mum told Harry and Ron they weren't even allowed to move out, said there was no point with them being training because they would never be home, anyway,"
"You know, that could be an advantage of us going back, Ginny," Luna told them. "Harry and Ron would always be gone, even if we were staying home we probably wouldn't get to see them that much. This will help pass the time a bit for us."
Hermione and Ginny nodded thinking things through. Luna was absolutely right, the girls grinned, and both decided that they really did need to enjoy their last year.
"We better get to the prefects meeting," Ginny said, "we won't be gone very long, Luna."
"I'll see you in a bit," Luna pulled out a quibbler and started reading.
Ginny and Hermione made their way to the front for the meeting. They ended up being the first ones to arrive and waited patiently for everyone else. While everyone was slowly accumulating Hermione noticed that a few were looking at her curiously but didn't say anything.
"Alright," Ginny started when everyone was present, "I want to keep this short and sweet so that we can all get back to our friends and get some lunch. First off, I am head girl, if you need anything you can come to me or to Adam Blake, your head boy from Ravenclaw. Also, Hermione Granger is a co-head girl, she would have been head girl last year, had she not been off saving the wizarding world, so you can also go to her. She will have all the rights and privileges that Adam and I have, meaning she can take and give points to any house, not just her own. Prefects, you can lose your badge if you are being unfair or if you look the other way in a situation. Bullying is no tolerance from here on out. We will take turns patrolling the train and when we get to the station we will help the younger kids get to the carriages. A few of us will go ahead to the castle to monitor things there. Any questions so far?" Ginny really had tried to make it black and white.
"How will we know who is doing what?" a new prefect asked.
"I have a list that Headmistress McGonagall set for tonight, Adam, Hermione and I will sit down and figure out a schedule from then on."
"What about quidditch?" another fifth-year asked.
"I'm also a quidditch captain, do you really think I won't be considerate of quidditch practices?" Ginny smiled at the boy.
"Thank you," he smiled back.
"Anything else?" Ginny asked.
When no one else had any questions, she doled out the rounds. Hermione and Ginny would go first and then from there she went on and assigned their jobs for when they reached Hogsmeade.
"We can't take points before term starts but if you need to you can hand out detention," Adam took over." Write down the infraction and the person if you have an incident and we will take care of them or escalate it to Headmistress McGonagall if needed. If you are uncomfortable assigning a duration of detention just tell them they will receive their punishment tomorrow and we can discuss what should happen. Also, as touched on earlier, you can only take points from your own house, if you want to give points or take points from another house you send a note to any head student or head of house, they will review it and make a decision. Just note that any dishonesty can and will be taken care of. Like Ginny said we can be stripped of our badges at any time if we are not doing our jobs."
They released the prefects and Hermione and Ginny prepared to start their rounds.
"I didn't realize that McGonagall gave a list for today," Adam told the girls.
"She didn't," Ginny told Adam, "I was going to try to tell you before the meeting but some of the younger students showed up first. I just didn't wasn't a fuss about who was paired with who and also when they had to patrol. I figured you would want to get yours out of the way soon, so I put you second, If I was wrong in assuming that I'm sorry. I figured you could eat and then patrol."
"No, that's brilliant. Thank you for taking the time to figure today out, I never even thought about trying to get this all figured out beforehand. I guess I could start on a schedule for the month and when we meet up tomorrow we can go from there," Adam told them.
"Sounds like a good plan, once we figure things out we can set a prefects meeting," Hermione told Adam before they said their goodbyes and left.
"I wasn't really sure that you would end up wanting to patrol and help with schedules and such," Ginny told Hermione.
"Maybe not a lot but tonight is important, the students need to see a united front whether I am only patrolling every now and again or if I decide later that I want to patrol more often then that's not something they will need to know was ever a choice."
"Good Idea," Ginny told her."
The two girls stopped by and let Luna know they were taking the first patrol and they would be back soon. Patrols started at noon and each pair was to patrol for forty-five minutes. That left room for two pairs to be patrolling for the last five minutes at each changeover. They would arrive at Hogwarts about eight and then they all knew their jobs from there. Hermione and Ginny didn't have too many problems and thankfully no detentions were necessary, just a few stern looks and a couple of comments about toning it down. When they Came to their last five minutes they rand into Adam Blake and Amy Johnson, a very pretty Slytherin girl. They let them know that nothing had really been going on and went back to their compartment. Hermione and Ginny grabbed lunch from the trolley and Hermione bought some chocolate to help them all feel better. The afternoon passed by them and the sunny skies from the morning had disappeared during their patrol. It was cold out but, on the train, it was warm and cozy. Hermione enjoyed storms immensely. She pulled out her blue jean quilt and her Standard Book of Spells Grade 7. She could already perform almost all of the spells, but she still loved to refresh herself on what the book had to say. It seemed like no time at all and the Hogwarts express was almost there. The girls got ready to endure the rain and Hermione and Ginny got their luggage together, covering their pets so that it could be moved before they went to the front of the train to meet with the other prefects.
"Alright guys, when the train stops our door will be the only one that will open for a moment," Hermione told the group. "When we get off, everyone who is going up to the school needs to hurry and get a carriage to beat the other students. Everyone else needs to get to their positions. Everyone can perform a Scourgify, correct?" Hermione looked at everyone and saw that they were nodding. "I need you to make sure that the students going inside aren't tracking mud everywhere. It is Mr. Filtch's job to clean that up, technically, but it shouldn't be, let's prevent it. Also, after the students go inside help dry them off, we don't want puddles all over and we don't want to be cold all night. After we are all at the school we will meet just inside the front doors. Any questions?"
Everyone shook their heads and soon they were working like a well-oiled machine. Hermione and Ginny were among the students that were at the station whereas Adam Blake had gone ahead to the castle. They tried to shield the students from the rain as best they could but there was only so much they could do. When the last students had boarded a carriage the prefects quickly performed a sweep of the train, to make sure nobody was left behind for any reason, and then they grabbed the last couple carriages. After everyone was cleared of mud, Hermione and Ginny lead them up the steps to the front doors while cleaning the mess off of the steps. When they entered the castle, they dried themselves quickly and did a once over on the floors again. After seeing how distraught Mr. Filtch was to see the castle destroyed, after the war, Hermione vowed to do what she could to help keep the castle cleaner for him. Just because, as a squib, he couldn't perform magic didn't mean that things had to be harder on him.
"One last task before we go take our seats, we need to go introduce ourselves to some very special kids,"
Hermione lead them off the room where the first years were all waiting. The prefects got to work cleaning and drying them off once they saw Hermione start.
"I want to introduce us to you," Hermione told them. "I am Hermione Granger and I am a co-head girl. This is Ginny Weasley, our other co-head girl, we are both in Gryffindor. Adam Blake is your Head boy and is in Ravenclaw." Hermione looked around and Smiled. "I want you to notice something, there are twenty-five of us, between prefects and heads, and you can see that we aren't all standing here by house. For those of you who don't know, each house has a different color on our robes. There has been a lot of discrimination and rivalry and that ended with the war. It will not be tolerated to put someone down because of their house and it will be punished to treat people bad over their blood status.
"I've heard a lot of arguments about bad people only come from Slytherin or Hufflepuffs are weak, Ravenclaws are stuck up and Gryffindors are reckless and loud. However, I can tell you that's not true. Cedric Digory, one of the Triwizard tournament champions, he was a Hufflepuff and was one of the bravest, most kind, people you could ever know. He stood up against Voldemort, he lost his life but he stood up for what he believed in. Peter Pettigrew, one of the vilest humans I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, came not from Slytherin but from my own house. He betrayed Harry Potter's parents and told Voldemort where they were, he was their secret keeper, not Sirius Black. Luna Lovegood is a seventh-year Ravenclaw that you will see around, she is one of the sweetest people you can meet. If you see her in the hallways tell her hello, she will have your back even when you don't even know her. She helped save a lot of lives over the last few years and was even captured by Voldemort, last year, and she is still an optimistic, down to earth person. For Gryffindor, I can tell you I'm not loud and rambunctious. Ginny here might be, but she has six older brothers. One of which owns Weasley's Wizard Wheezes the joke shop in Diagon Alley, if that tells you anything about the noise she is used to speaking over. What I'm trying to tell you is that it doesn't matter where you are sorted, everyone in here is my family. You are the first group of first-years since the war ended, it is very important for you to all set an example and to be a united front against house discrimination. It's one thing to have a rivalry over quidditch but that is where the line is drawn, this year. There will be no tolerance whatsoever about any kind of bullying. We have a few minutes until you go to get sorted so I suggest you take this time to introduce yourselves to those around you and get to know each other a bit. You never know when the shy kid who forgets everything is going to grow up and be a hero or when the snide little pureblood is only acting that way because he has no choice if he wants his family to live. His mother may end up being the reason for your side winning. When the little bucktooth bookworm girl will grow up to help save lives or the guy who is always in the shadows will be the one who is always there for you," Hermione felt a bit long-winded, but she really had a lot to say on such a big matter. Neville Longbottom, Draco and Narcissa Malfoy, herself and Ron may not have been the stars of the war, but they were all a big hand in it. Hermione was going to do her best to keep from having another war.
To Hermione's surprise, the first years started chatting with those around them and moving about the group introducing themselves. Hagrid Joined them a few minutes later and the prefects left to take their seats.
In the great hall, the ceiling reflected the storms outside and candles were floating around. It was like being wrapped in a warm hug, being back. Hermione watched the students as they filed in and were sorted. They were all excited for themselves and their new friends, they were happy and carefree, the way they should be. After the sorting, the feast appeared Hermione and Ginny talked about what was to come this year, about how they hoped the younger students would be able to have friends from all houses, how they were going to study but they were also going to have fun. They had dessert and then listened as Headmistress McGonagall gave her speech. She spoke of recovery and strength, she urged all students to throw away all house rivalry and to reach out and help one another. When she was done the whole school broke into a furious applause. Everyone was tired of living in fear, they were tired of the hate. It was time for a change. When Hermione looked around she was proud to be back at the castle.
McGonagall had Professor Slughorn Lead the Slytherins down to the dungeons, Professor Sprout lead the Hufflepuffs off near the kitchens, Professor Flitwick took the Ravenclaws to their tower and then she asked Professor Hagrid to take the Gryffindors. She only held back the returning students. She wanted to speak to the Prefects and Heads.
"This year it is vital that we try to end the blood supremacist attitude," She started. "we need to unite the school and the students, within."
McGonagall continued on for a few minutes before she was interrupted.
"Excuse me, Headmistress McGonagall, everything you are saying is very important, I think we all can agree on that. However, Ms. Granger kind of beat you to everything while we were on the train," A small Slytherin, Jim Longworth told her. "She even took us to meet the first years and gave them a speech, made them introduce themselves to one another."
"Alright then, thank you for letting me know, Mr. Longworth. I appreciate the forethought, Ms. Granger, Mr. Blake, Ms. Weasley I'm sure you three will be good for the school, this year," McGonagall told them. "All prefects can go ahead, all returning students, please stay."
When it was only the returning students Hermione realized there had been a couple more that had come back that McGonagall had not told her about. Justin Finch-Fletchley had joined Hannah and Susan in Hufflepuff. Gryffindor was now Neville, Parvati, Seamus and Herself. Ravenclaw was Padma and Lisa Turpin but Slytherin was, now, not only Tracey Davis but also Draco Malfoy.
"I have decided that between there not boing enough room in your common rooms and what all you have been through that it would be better to give you all your own place to stay. Each of you will have your own living quarters around the castle. You will be able to invite people in but I advise you all to be responsible." The professors were making their way back in as she was speaking to everyone. "The quarters will be spread out a bit, but we tried to make them feel as much at home as we could." From there she addressed the professors. "Horace will take Ms. Davis and Mr. Malfoy to their new rooms. Professor Flitwick will take Padma and Parvati, yours are close together. Professor Vector has Ms. Abbott and Mr. Longbottom. Professor Sprout has Ms. Bones and Mr. Finch-Fletchley. Hagrid will take Ms. Turpin and Mr. Finnigan," She stopped and looked around expectantly. "Let's go, we need to get some sleep, tonight. It's a busy day, tomorrow," She told them.
Hermione almost said something about no one calling her name but after six years with McGonagall, she knew that there was a reason. She stood up when everyone else did and watched as everyone began to leave. McGonagall walked over to Hermione and together they left the great hall.
"You're only a floor above my office so I thought I would take you and we could talk for a moment. I know I'm not your head of house, anymore but I want you to come to me if you need anything," She told Hermione.
"Who will be our head of house?" Hermione asked. "Who is or Defense teacher, also?
"I'm still working on that, now that Voldemort is gone there is no longer a curse but I think it could still be a hard position to fill."
"What about transfiguration?"
"We have a temporary teacher for part of the year, she is pregnant so when she leaves I will stand in." McGonagall looked a bit worn out with the whole process she had surely been dealing with.
"I think I might like to teach after I finish with school," Hermione spoke up.
"Really?"
"Yes, I had never considered it until a few weeks ago but I was speaking with Charlie and after talking about it for a bit I feel like it could be a good fit." Hermione admitted.
"Well, that explains a lot," McGonagall said.
"Explains what?" Hermione asked.
"Why you would have just thought about it," McGonagall seemed a bit lost in thought. "You would be an amazing professor." They had reached the third floor and passed the Defense classroom. Several doors down and around a corner McGonagall stopped. "This is it, Frida the fertilizer, she was able to make crops and plants grow in places that they shouldn't have been able to. Your password is Fruitful" With that the portrait swung open and Hermione was in awe.
I hope ya'll like this one, I feel like I was really trying to impress upon the students that the time for division is over and that they all need to move on and come together. Little shocker there about Malfoy. Let me know what yall think is going to happen! I want to hear your guesses wildly ridiculous as you think they may be. Also... I broke 50,000 words! I didn't think I would do that so soon!