Hermione walked shakily to the hat. It felt like first-year all over again. Standing under the gaze of about fifty people made her heart beat quicker and adrenaline to pump around her body. She swallowed and tried to ignore the thumping in her ears as she sat down and put the hat on her head. It slipped over her eyes and she found herself in total darkness.

"Hello, Hermione."

"Hello."

"You seem a little sad… ah, so that is the reason. It is so seldom to see the great Albus Dumbledore make mistakes that people often believe him without second thoughts. Do not worry yourself, although the road gets bumpier, things will brighten. Now, let's see. A bravery that is fading, revenge is in your heart. My, you are ambitious, aren't you? Highly intelligent, but you would not benefit academically or otherwise being in Diamond. You are well-meaning, but your temper is rather short, so not Topaz. Amethyst or Emerald… You think that being in Emerald is like being in Slytherin? Well, there are a few Muggleborns in Emerald already, do not fear. So, what is your decision?"

"Do you think I'll do better in S-Emerald than in Amethyst?" Hermione asked, surprised.

"No doubt. Amethyst will only serve to remind you of the past, and, although lessons are to be learnt from the past, one should not dwell in it for more than necessary."

"I accept your decision." Hermione said, a little reluctantly.

"Oh good! EMERALD!"

Hermione slipped the hat off and thanked the headmaster, before going towards the group of students, all of whom seemed to be clapping enthusiastically. She noticed that one group were cheering and waving at her, so she assumed that she should go in that direction.

"Now, continue as normal for your last day of school. I am sure Miss Granger would like to become acquainted with many of you and begin finding her way around. Off you go!" The headmaster said merrily.

Everyone stood up and left, smiling at Hermione as they passed. It was such a strange thing, to see people smile genuinely at her after such a lengthy period of time that had consisted only of others slighting her. One of the Emerald girls held out her hand.

"My name's Phoebe."

"Hermione." She said, shaking hands with the black-haired girl.

Phoebe was quite tall and very pale. She was also extremely thin. Her teeth were a brilliant white and her eyes were dark brown, on the border of being black. Hermione was glad that she had the sense to change into her new school uniform before she left Hogwarts, she would have been late for class.

"I'm William, just call me Will, not Willie, mind you."

A boy appeared beside Phoebe and held out his hand to Hermione. He had sandy brown hair, and deep blue eyes. He seemed nice enough.

"What subjects are you doing for your NEWTs?" Will asked.

"I'm taking Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology, Arithmancy, Transfiguration, and Charms."

"Woah! Six subjects! Merlin's beard…"

"Oh good! That means we'll actually have someone else to help bring up our house points instead of losing them, Will." Phoebe shot at him.

These people were completely different to the stand-offish, snooty, pure-blood brats who said they were Slytherins. Will pretended not to notice Phoebe's glare.

"Come on! Since all three of us take Transfiguration, we'll go together. And then—"

"And then, Hermione is going to stay away from you to escape your bad influence and hopefully learn her way around. Knowing you, you'd take her straight to the Sneaky Stairs!"

"No I wouldn't!"

"Where are you taking her now?"

Hermione noticed a distinct change of direction.

"To lessons."

"Humph!" Phoebe said.

Hermione noticed that the walls were usually made of grey stone with a rough texture. In the assembly hall, the floor, ceiling and walls were made of marble. When they entered the Transfiguration classroom, the walls were made of a white, smooth stone. The Transfiguration teacher was Professor Stix. He was crouched over in what seemed like a very painful posture. He was half-deaf, and whenever he could not hear what a student was saying to him, he would say;

"Eh? What are you saying?"

And most of the class would burst into little giggles when someone, like Will, played a prank on him by saying something like:

"Sir, there is a werewolf behind you."

And of course, the Professor would move forwards, very slowly because he had something wrong with his legs, and cup his ear with one hand and repeat his trademark phrase:

"Eh? What are you saying?"

Hermione was going to remind Will that werewolves only existed in that form at night under the full moon, but she bit down on her tongue. No sense in making a reputation of being a Know-It-All, since it only gave her grief in Hogwarts.

Amusing as the Professor was, he taught very well. Hermione found herself being dragged off to Defence Against the Dark Arts next by Will, who did actually bring her to the Sneaky Stairs. She found out why it was 'sneaky' by nudging him forwards first, causing him to lose his balance and trip down a few steps. Suddenly, one of the floorboards disappeared and his legs shot through the gap, much to his dismay. He managed to escape his predicament, after a while, and everyone made it safely to class. Unlike Hogwarts, the stairs did not move, much to Hermione's disappointment.

The teacher was a very tall and skinny woman, who reminded Hermione very much of Harry's Aunt Petunia. Her hair was tied very tightly in a bun, as Professor McGonagall would have done, and she spoke in a very high-pitched voice. Hermione could see that this was one teacher that no one dared to mess with. When she saw Hermione, she invited her to the front of the class and asked Hermione to make a demonstration on how well she could duel. To everyone's surprise, Hermione very nearly beat the teacher. They duelled solidly for ten minutes, and only then did Hermione make her fatal mistake. She had only just managed to dodge a stunning spell, and said a spell that conjured a mist, so that Madam Viarra could not see. However, this also caused Hermione great difficulty in seeing where Madam Viarra was, until she realised that the teacher was behind her and she was in a full body-bind.

"Well done, Miss Granger. That was a refreshing duel. Makes me feel young once more."

She freed Hermione and sighed. Madam Viarra was about late forties, which wasn't very old to say in the least. She had hardly any grey or white hair in her tightly done blonde hair. Hermione smiled at the compliment and returned to her desk. Phoebe did not take Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"What's the point? All this combat stuff isn't going to be useful for me." Phoebe shrugged. "I'm not planning on fighting any wars."

"She basically thinks fighting is beneath her because she wants to cure people." Will added.

Charms was interesting. The woman who taught it was a very cheerful person and was so passionate about it that if someone asked her a question on something total irrelevant to the topic at hand but was some obscure part of Charms, she would rattle on for half the lesson before realising that nobody was listening and then continue teaching. Of course, Hermione was very interested to hear what Professor Featherpea had to say, and was the only person awake after half an hour.

Then, it was Lunchtime. Hermione used to think that the Great Hall was noisy during meals, but that was nothing compared to here. People yelled from one side of the room to another, chucked things here and there, did homework on the table, and if one end of the table began a food-fight, others nearby, who did not partake, merely moved onto another house's table and mingle with them. This sort of inter-house camaraderie never existed in Hogwarts.

The layout of the dining hall was similar to that of the Great Hall in Hogwarts, but staff sat with the house they were attached to. The headmaster, apparently, switched tables every day. Professor Stix sat with the Topazes, Madam Viarra with the Diamonds, Professor Featherpea was with the Amethysts. There were other professors here and there, but Hermione did not know any of them.

"I'm Muggle-born." Hermione said, finally, after having told Phoebe and Will and those around her about herself.

She did not hear the expected gasp of horror that a Muggle-born had been sorted into Emerald, as she would have definitely heard should it have happened with the Slytherins. Instead, they all nodded and waited expectantly.

"What else do you want to know?" Hermione asked.

"Why did you change schools? I mean, this is Hogwarts we're talking about! I absolutely adore it here, but from what I've heard, it's amazing! The best teachers, a Quidditch pitch, Harry Potter!" Will asked.

"Yes… it was a great place." Hermione said, feeling tears prick her eyes again.

People noticed the change in her and left her, not wanting to force Hermione into talking about something that obviously made her feel uncomfortable. Only Phoebe and Will were left, still eating. Will had habits just like Ron, speaking while his mouth was full, but Phoebe seemed to border on the other extreme.

"Wy ju nuh wann hoo fay—"

"William Fortescue! I demand that you finish chewing before you try to speak again, or else." Phoebe threatened, playing with her wand.

Will swallowed his large mouthful, but gagged, and sputtered. After a lot of attempts, he managed to get the food down before continuing, wary of Phoebe's narrowed eyes and left hand, which seemed to be twirling her rather sharp ended fork.

"Why don't you want to speak about Hogwarts?" Will asked.

"No subtlety what-so-ever." Phoebe said to herself, before stabbing her food, since her original victim was no longer requiring punishment.

"It's not that I don't like Hogwarts. I've always loved it. The castle, the lake, the grounds… The air is so fresh and cool and the castle is so huge and exciting! Every corridor filled with paintings, suits of armour that moved, ghosts that milled about… even Peeves is great, although a bit annoying at times. He's a Poltergeist."

Phoebe nodded.

"What about the people?" Will asked.

Hermione froze. Her hand was trembling and the fork was about an inch away from the plate. After a few moments, she sighed and put down her fork and knife. She would not be able to escape them forever, but she had hoped that she would not have to tell them.

"You d—" Phoebe began.

"Were they horrible? I mean… you're looking a little pale." Will interrupted.

"No… they were… they were… I don't know what to say really. I was all alone at first. Nobody liked me because I was too bossy, or just a Gryffindor Know-It-All."

"You were a Gryffindor! Merlin's Beard! You must have known Harry Potter!" Will said excitedly.

"Harry and Ron saved me in our first year." Hermione said grimly. "We always stuck together. Best of friends. The Golden Trio. The bane of Snape's existence."

Hermione sighed and picked up her fork before swirling the mashed potatoes round and round.

"I redefined my priorities. Things were going so well." Hermione could not stop the memories coming and a tear fell. "And then… I never did anything of the sort! But what was one girl's word against three teachers' accusation? Especially when it was Albus Dumbledore, the omniscient, kind, gentle, understanding headmaster, who would have believed my word over his? Of course, there was no solid proof, but the damage was done. Ever since then, Harry and Ron have turned a blind eye to everything that has been happening to me. Nobody came to help me. Professor Snape had actually come across me, half-dead, surrounded by the those people, and then—and then—"

Hermione gave a quiet sob and buried her face in her hands. She felt arms around her shoulders, and was startled to find Will and Phoebe enveloping her in a large bear hug. Phoebe held out a tissue, which was gratefully accepted, and Hermione wiped away her tears.

"I'm sorry. It's just that… I would have stuck by them through thick and thin, and they had ditched me without a second thought."

"Ah well, so maybe Harry Potter isn't so great after all. Say! Aren't you the one who that reporter—Rita Skeeter! That's it! That woman wrote an article about how you were dating Harry Potter and you ditched him for Viktor Krum!" Will said excitedly.

Hermione let out another sob.

"We were never dating – Harry, Ron and I were friends, nothing more. Viktor Krum is only a friend as well, all that rubbish was just that Skeeter woman up to no good." Suddenly, a smile flashed across Hermione's face. "but I sorted her out in the end."

"What did you do to her?" Will's eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"Oh, it's a secret, but it got her out of my hair." Hermione smirked.

"'Atta girl!" Will said.

"The people there aren't bad at all, really, it was just… most of them thought that I had betrayed Harry to Lord Vol—"

"You-Know-Who." Phoebe interrupted, eyes darting left and right.

"It's only a name. Fear of a name only increases fear for the thing itself." Hermione's smile faded. "That was one of the things Professor Dumbledore taught us."

"They thought you betrayed him to Him? What a bunch of idiots!" Will scoffed.

"They have a right to be angry though, they all thought that I had tricked Harry for years. And the fact that the Ravenclaws were jealous that a Gryffindor did better than they did in OWLs just fed the fire. The Slytherins just hate me full-stop. So… I left. I ran away, like a coward that I am, instead of standing up to them. I never got a chance to defend myself in Professor Dumbledore's office. They said that they had no evidence that I was a Death Eater, but their voices were enough to convince me that they believed me to be one." Hermione's voice cracked again.

"Come on, classes will cheer you up. I saw that you managed to stay awake through Charms. Your eyes were positively sparkling with joy." Phoebe said, wrenching Hermione and Will from their seats and dragging them out of the hall.