Chapter five: Hermione Babbled

The time between visiting Diagon Alley and going to Hogwarts was uneventful. Harry and I spent our days reading out of our books, Potions being my favorite so far as I loved to cook with Meredith, and sending letters back and forth with Neville through Harry's new owl Hedwig. Since it was our birthday, and I was always wanting a pet, Meredith let us each pick out one. Harry was immediately drawn to a snowy owl with intelligent eyes and a sweet disposition. I decided to look at cats, having always wanted one. Indeed, there was a calico kitten waiting for me- though I couldn't decide on a name until Harry hounded me a week later about it.

"You can't take her to Hogwarts without a name," he said, feeling superior after choosing Hedwig's name just that afternoon while reading our History of Magic book.

"Rose, then," I said absently, having been throwing my wand and catching to see if I could. On the downfall as I caught it, the roses just outside the window caught my eye.

Harry snorted. "Rose? I name Hedwig after a saint and you go with something common like Rose?"

I glared. "Rose-a, then."

He and Meredith just looked at me.

"Belle," I added, feeling silly. "I'll call her Rosabelle."

I paused, thinking about the name before I decided that I actually liked it. Rosabelle seemed to also, crawling over my lap and snuggling down for her hourly nap. Meredith had the both of us read at least one chapter from each of our books, though she encouraged us to read more than that. It wasn't hard to get us to do it. Harry had finished his Quidditch books early, and I'd been disappointed by my books on bloodlines, so we read quite a bit from our texts. Harry's favorite looked like Potions at first too, but after reading more he decided he might like Defense Against the Dark Arts better. His concern, perhaps the reason he was reading so much, was that the two of us would be behind because we weren't raised in the Wizarding World. Meredith told us not to worry about it. That while she and her brother had tutors to teach them reading and basic arithmetic, there wasn't much of a difference.

We tried not to be too impatient, Harry coming over nearly everyday for hours until he had to go home. While he was at the Dursley's, Hedwig stayed with us as we knew they wouldn't let her out. Harry said that when he came back from Diagon Alley, they took his trunk and locked it in Dudley's second bedroom and wouldn't let him have any of it. We studied out of my books, happy he'd accidentally left his Quidditch books at our house.

It was strange, our birthdays so close together. We found out Neville's birthday was the day before Harry's, and said that next year we'd celebrate all three of them together. Neville told us about the Wizarding World, and how he already knew Professor McGonagall through his grandmother- that they had tea from time to time. He said she was really nice, and could even turn into a cat- something called Animagi.

"You're going to set fire to the love seat if you keep doing that," Meredith said, catching my wand in the air and shaking it at me. "You'll poke your eye out!"

My wand was ash and unicorn hair, a wand Ollivander said would serve me well. Harry and I had tried a few spells from our books, but only about half of them worked for us. The rest of the time we only produced wispy colors at best.

"I'm just practicing," I grumbled when she gave it back to me. "Can I take Rosabelle to the park to meet Harry?"

She didn't want me to. Tomorrow, Harry and I would be going to Hogwarts with Neville. And I wouldn't see her until Christmas at the very earliest. Harry and I had promised to write to her through Hedwig, and she'd mentioned getting an owl herself so that Hedwig wouldn't have to do all of the work. She was still worried I would forget about her. That I would be too caught up with my new friends.

"Go ahead," she said with a fake smile.

I tried to read her, but she had the habit of thinking boring things to hide her real thoughts when she didn't want me to know. She was thinking about flower genus' at the moment, but I knew her smile was fake. I knew her.

I left anyway, running to the park where I knew Harry would be. He was on the swings again, like when we'd met. Soon after, we were coming home to Meredith to watch a movie together. We watched my favorite, Alice in Wonderland, then Harry's favorite, Home Alone. The three of us made chocolate biscuits that Meredith said we could take on the train. And Meredith went into her room for a few minutes after, coming back with wet eyes and a red nose and a smile.

And I loved her so.

*

"Neville!"

Neville was waiting for us just inside the barrier, being scolded by his grandmother for something until I called his name and he looked over with a grin and perked up.

"Lilia!"

"Neville! Listen to me," Mrs. Longbottom scolded, turning him back to face her.

Meredith did the same to Harry and I. "Now, don't make yourself sick on biscuits. Eat your sandwich as well. You both have your money? Ticket?"

We both answered yes.

"Don't forget to write," she said. "I'd better be getting my first letter in the morning or I'll send Howlers. And mind your manners. Do your classwork, listen to the teachers, behave. Lilia, do pay attention in Occlumency. I'd better not hear of you-"

"Meredith," I half groaned in offense. "You know me."

She gave me the must-you-be-so-troublesome look. "Yes, I do. And I know that trouble follows you like stink on a hippogriff. And I know Harry will spur you on!"

Harry looked up at her with his own offended look. "What did I do?"

The long scarlet train whistled a sharp sound and from the corner of my eye I could see Mrs. Longbottom send Neville off to board it. He hesitated at the door, looking back and waiting for us. I nodded at him, that we'd be there in a minute, and Neville nodded back before going to find a compartment. When I turned back Meredith was glaring that I wasn't paying attention, but I knew she thought it wonderful- that we'd befriended someone so thoroughly and so quickly. I knew she'd been nervous that we would be too anti social with others.

"Give me a hug," she sighed in defeat, "and go on. Neville's waiting for you."

Harry grinned, hugging her tightly. When he pulled away, she looked at me as though she were going to cry, her arms reached out to me. And I launched myself into them, hugging her as tight as I could- suddenly assaulted with the feeling that I didn't want to go. Suddenly terrified with the self aware fear that she might be right. Going to Hogwarts would change everything.

"I love you," she whispered into my hair, kissing my head and hugging me back just as tightly.

"I love you too," I told her back.

The whistle of the train came again and she reluctantly let go of me, holding me at arm's length to look me over. I wore my new robes and my ashen hair was brushed and partially pulled back. She brushed something invisible off of my shoulder, tucked in a lock of hair that was already behind my ear, and smiled a bittersweet please-don't-leave-me smile.

"Go on," she said in a falsely cheerful tone. "It's only til Christmas. Harry's waiting for you."

I looked back and Harry stood half on the train, half on the platform, with Neville on the train standing next to him. I looked back to Meredith, making sure she was ready for me to leave.

"I'll be okay," she whispered.

So I hugged her once more, and boarded the train. As soon as I got to the steps, Neville led Harry and I to the compartment he'd found for us. With each compartment we passed, I could see Meredith through the windows and found myself quickly getting to the next window so I could see her- past others who were also looking at their platform parents. Each time, her eyes seemed to have been looking for me in every window as well- following me as I did her. When we came upon the compartment Neville had for us, I went straight for the window; hanging halfway out of it to wave and shout words of comfort and promises of coming back for Christmas.

Harry and Neville hung out over me, standing on the seats on either side, with Harry also waving to Meredith and Neville waving to Mrs. Longbottom who had walked over to her. My Meredith waved back, smiling at me. Then the train started to move, and Meredith trailed away- standing still on the platform. After a moment, I pulled away from the window so as not to watch her out of sight. It was a superstition of hers. Never watch anyone out of sight, or it would be the last time you saw them. So I sat down, wanting nothing more to ignore the superstition and look at her longer. It would be three and a half months until I saw her again, and I'd never been away from her for more than a few hours spent at the park.

I wondered if she knew, that part of me was wishing I'd never boarded the train at all.

*

None of us said much for the first hour. We were quiet, internally debating about our new journey to Hogwarts and departure from our families. Neville had never been far from his grandmother either, though he seemed too eager to be now. About an hour and a half into our train ride, we broke out the cookies and the sandwiches Meredith had made. She'd made an extra two for Neville as well. We began talking about Hogwarts, and going over what we'd read in our texts in advance. Neville seemed to be nervous about classes, telling us that always seemed to messing things up.

"Everyone thought I was a squib until I was eight," he said. "My great uncle Algie kept trying to scare the magic out of me. He even pushed me off Blackpool pier once. I almost drowned, and Gran was furious. Then, when I was eight, he hung me outside the upstairs window by my ankles until great aunt Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go."

"What happened," Harry asked, eyes wide with a chocolate biscuit poised at his mouth and forgotten.

Neville shrugged, taking a bite of the sandwich Meredith had made him. "I bounced- all the way through the garden and into the road. Gran was so happy she cried. And when I got my letter, great uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me Trevor."

At this point, he dug into his pocket to show us the toad he'd told us about in his letters. After a moment, his face paled and he looked panicked. He couldn't find him.

"Did you forget him at home?" I asked.

"No, I felt him move while I was looking for somewhere we could sit."

"Then he has to be on the train," Harry reasoned. "We'll all go look for him."

Neville nodded, the three of us standing up. "Guys, if I don't find him Gran will-"

"We'll find him," I promised.

We split up, each looking on our own and to meet up once we either found him or searched everywhere and couldn't. I went car to car, opening doors and asking if anyone had seen a toad. There was a redhead in one, talking to two other boys our year. When I asked about Trevor, he got snotty and told me some boy had already asked. It was Neville I knew, seeing my friend's face in this boy's mind.

I quickly left him be, moving on to the next when I bumped into a curly haired girl. When I say she had curly hair, perhaps a more accurate statement would be that I ran into a mass of brown hair that happened to have a girl attached to it. Her mind, that I heard only out of being unable to not, was a jumble and hard to follow. Like there was too much on her mind that she was thinking about and after just the glimpse I had, my head hurt.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville's lost one."

"I'm looking for Trevor too," I told her. "Neville's my friend."

She smiled. "Lilia, then, right? He said I might run into you. You're a first year too, aren't you? Do you know what House you'll be in? I've been hoping for Gryffindor, but I suppose Ravenclaw would be alright as well. I read in Hogwarts: A History that Professor Dumbledore himself was in Gryffindor."

The girl said this as fast as her mind was, and I blinked at her a few times until her words made sense in my head.

"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way." She added, somewhat embarrassed that her mouth had run away from her.

"Lilia Sterling," I replied, smiling and holding my hand out to shake hers.

She took it gladly and had just let go when a voice called out to me. "Lilia! Have you found him?"

Harry came over, nodding politely to Hermione. "I looked all over and no one's seen a toad at all."

His face was flushed and his hair mussed in a way that I knew would have Meredith grabbing a comb. It seemed that one of the compartments he checked had a few... fans.

"Are you alright?" I asked, referring to it.

"Yeah, but I think I'd like to go back to our seats. A few of them chased me, someone grabbed me, and I think one of my socks are missing."

Hermione cleared her throat gently. "Oh! Harry, meet Hermione Granger. Hermione, this is my best friend Harry."

Harry smiled at her. "Hello. Pleased don't try to kiss me."

She looked at him, and the roaring ocean of topics in her mind froze mid wave and there was just the realization that she was looking at Harry Potter. She blinked, and the other thoughts were back with the added thought that she shouldn't act strangely. Be casual, she told herself.

"You're Harry Potter," she said aloud.

Now she was scolding herself and I tried not to smile. I liked her, trying to convey this in pictures to Harry- who was also trying not to smile.

"That's what they tell me."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just-"

"It's okay," I told her. "He needs to get used to that anyway."

I looked at Harry and he nodded. So I continued. "We're about to go find Neville. Would you like to come sit with us?"

Her face brightened and I could see that she was just as surprised as Neville had been when we extended our hand of friendship to him. For nearly the same reason. It seemed that she had a similar experience that Harry had at school, where they teased her and she was an outcast.

"I'd love to."

Hermione told us her parents were dentists, but she was lying. She thought that her parents being dentists sounded normal, unimportant, and perhaps pedestrian enough that no one would ask questions when in fact her father was an earl. I wasn't sure how to tell her I knew. I wasn't sure when the appropriate time was. Harry and Miss Elora had both been without thinking, Neville had been a choice but with something of an opening for it. How do you come out to a potential friend and tell them you know what they're thinking?

We were nearing our compartment when we heard voices not belonging to our friend, sneering at him.

"A toad?" One voice drawled. "What pathetic oaf would bring a toad?"

The three of us turned to see Neville standing inside a compartment with a red, embarrassed expression on his face. He'd been asking one last cart for any sign of Trevor, only to find a group of first years seemingly bent on being prats. Neville made to leave when two of the five stood up threateningly.

"Where do you think you're going?" The leader asked, amused.

"Wherever he wants," I told him firmly, everyone becoming aware of the new arrivals. "Who are you to be so insufferable to someone who only asked a question?"

The boy smirked. "I thinks it's that he exists, really. I admit I have prejudice against bumbling oafs breathing my air."

Harry glared at him. "I think you could live off the air in your head for a while if need be."

Harry thought the boy was beautiful too. Draco Malfoy had blonde hair, darker than my own but lighter than most- with pale skin and a somewhat pinched face. He knew who Harry was immediately, and was speechless for a moment. He'd read books about Harry Potter, the hero, and had wanted to befriend him.

But Harry was no hero. And Draco had ruined his chance.

"The great Harry Potter deals with commoners now, does he?"

Harry didn't grace him with an answer, turning instead to Neville. "Come on, let's go back to our compartment."

Draco stood up. "I didn't say you could leave."

"We weren't asking," Hermione quipped, feeling as though she should add something and stand with the people she hoped would be her new friends.

Draco looked at her, an expression I disliked immediately. He sneered, lips curling into a grimace-like smile. And he sniffed the air. "Does anyone else smell a M-"

Before I realized what I was doing, my wand was in my hand and pointed at him- my black eyes blazing at the word in his mind. "You will watch your tongue, or I will cut it out of your head and wear it on a necklace."

His silver eyes widened, and his thoughts turned apologetic in a strangely sudden way. And he looked as though he had only just now realized I was there. His friends seemed to be confused as to what they were supposed to do, looking around with alarm aside from one- a dark skinned boy who smirked at the scene. He thought it served Draco right, whatever I was going to do. In fact, he seemed almost disappointed when Neville laid a hand on my shoulder and I lowered my wand. Disappointed and intrigued.

"Come on, Lilia," Neville said quietly. "He's not worth it."

I glanced at him, and he smiled. "You're right. Let's go."

We exited the compartment to the one two doors down where we'd sat before our toad hunt. Rosabelle was still curled up on my seat, asleep. And across from her, was a toad. Neville quickly scooped him up, though when Trevor saw him coming he tried to get away. Neville personally didn't like toads, but having gotten him as a congratulations for receiving a Hogwarts letter, Trevor was a symbol that Neville indeed had magic. He wasn't a Squib, and though he doubted himself, he still held onto the hope that he could live up to his father.

"You'll be brilliant," I told him.

"Thanks," he replied. "And for standing up for me as well."

"Me too," Hermione said quietly. She didn't know what Draco was about to say, and she wouldn't know the significance if she did, but she understood that I was defending her.

"You're my friends," I told them both sincerely.

As if to confirm it, Harry held out the blue tin. "Chocolate biscuit?"

A/N: So, not gonna lie, I cried when I wrote Meredith and Lilia's goodbyes. And, despite how I wrote the last seen, I don't know if I am putting Harry and Draco together. I haven't decided anything about Harry and his future pairings. Always open for suggestions. Also, while the readers may know who Lilia's parents are- or think they do- I have not decided when or if Lilia herself will find out. I know it won't be soon. There will be no Ron, at least not as much as in canon because he's a wanker. But I couldn't do without Hermione. Let me know what you think of her and this chapter in the towel section below.

Mia.