Halloween was fast approaching, and Hogwarts was getting into the proper spirit. Jack-o'-lanterns and enchanted bats found their places in the corridors and stairwells, spooking students in preparations for the big night. Ron and Harry were excited; Ron's brothers had told him that Halloween at Hogwarts was nothing like anything they'd experiences before.
Hogwarts students had the school day off. The fifth-year Muggle Studies classes lead a small fair on the grounds with booths that explained Muggle traditions such as trick-or-treating, dressing up, and carving pumpkins. The students jumped through hay bales, roared with laughter at the ridiculous Muggle 'witch' costumes, and fried pumpkin seeds over small bonfires. There was also a surplus of candy, both magical and Muggle.
Ron and Harry enjoyed themselves watching a Muggle "horror movie" called Night of the Living Dead, carving their own pumpkins, and munching on handfuls of Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans. Every once in a while, they would pass Hermione, whose nose was buried in her Transfiguration textbook, attempting to finish the homework they'd been assigned over the break.
"I swear, she does not stop studying, ever," Ron muttered to Harry after the third time they'd seen her propped up against a bale of hay, quill scribbling furiously.
"I don't see why you're so fascinated by her, Ron," Harry told him, not for the first time. Ron had been asking out-of-the-blue questions about Hermione for the past few months, absolutely convinced he'd seen her before. They'd had this conversation before – No, neither of them knew her. The only Grangers either of them knew were Ron's parents' old school friends, who were both wizards. Hermione was Muggle-born. There was no other way either of them could have met her.
"I don't know. She just seems familiar," Ron said, before letting the subject drop.
Later that night, both boys were excited for the Halloween Feast. The food was particularly scrumptious, plus the ghosts took it upon themselves to pop out of plates to startle students.
Suddenly, the Defense Against The Dark Arts professor, Quirrell, burst into the Great Hall. "Troll! In the dungeons!" he screamed before fainting.
Ron grabbed Harry's sleeve. "Hermione! She doesn't know about the troll!"
The two boys slunk out of the Great Hall in the subsequent pandemonium.
"If I were Hermione, where would I be?" asked Harry as the two of them jogged away from the Entrance Hall.
"Library," Ron grinned. Where else would Hermione be? The two of them made a beeline for the nearest staircase and climbed a few flights before turning right and barreling toward the huge oak doors.
"Hermione!" Harry called as the doors burst open.
"Mmm," came a noise of acknowledgment from behind a few bookshelves.
Ron and Harry booked it over to where she was sitting, against the shelf full of books about dreams. She immediately snapped closed the tome she was holding and haphazardly stuffed it back into the shelf.
"What's going on?" she asked, taking in the boys' disheveled faces.
"Troll," they said in unison. "We have to get back to our Common Rooms," Ron added.
The three navigated their way through the corridors until finally catching up with the crowd of Gryffindors outside the portrait of the Fat Lady. Harry and Ron began to jostle their way through when Hermione tensed up.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked concernedly.
"I don't like crowds of people," Hermione said uncertainly. Although her eyes saw a hoard of teenage students in black robes and holding their wands apprehensively, her mind was seeing something else. In the press of bodies around her, Hermione was reminded of a scene that felt so eerily familiar…
Bodies pushing against her.
Snow falling, tangling in her hair and eyelashes.
The hurried voice of a woman, sounding fretful.
"Where are we going, Mama?"
Draco Malfoy's face pressed up against the window of a train…
Hermione shook her head. This was all very weird, especially that she kept seeing the face of that Slytherin boy in her subconscious. She didn't know him, after all. She shuddered a bit and allowed Harry and Ron to clasp her hands in order to lead her through the throng of students. The boys didn't notice that she seemed to keep an abnormally firm grip.
A/n: Again, sorry I changed the scene up a bit. I had to for plot reasons! Also, I finally have time to write again! This is awesome, seeing as people have been adding this story to their favorites all over the place. Keep up the amazing work with reviews and such! I LOVE YOU ALL! -Starry