AN: Thank you once again for the kind reviews! They are greatly appreciated

I just wanted to point out that in this chapter and those to come you will recognize some of the dialogue as being taken directly from the Harry Potter books. I give JKR all the credit that she is due. It's not that I couldn't have written my own, but I have found that, when reading stories with scenes taken directly from cannon that I notice immediately when the dialogue has been changed. Instead of focusing on the story at hand I'm thinking "that's not what s/he said." Since I am trying to stick to cannon and fit my story around it, it seemed fitting to keep the original conversations when they came up. Forgive me if this approach irritates anyone the way the opposite irritates me.

The next update will be very soon, definitely within the next week. The chapter is written it just needs to be proofread and polished.

By the way, I'm still looking for a beta!

Tokens and Trains

Hermione stood up from her desk, yawned, stretched, and turned to the right to open the nearest window. She had just spent the last several hours immersed in her new Hogwarts textbooks. It was absolutely imperative that she know as much as possible before she went to school. All the students who had been raised in magical households were probably so far ahead that she would never be able to catch up. Currently she had seven and a half spiral notebooks full of her small and neat handwriting detailing the information in her new textbooks. An additional two notebooks held neatly organized notes from her background reading. Quills and parchment were all very nice, but she still preferred a ballpoint pen and lined notebook paper.

Magic was fascinating. She simply couldn't learn enough about it. Her parents had taken her on several more trips to Diagon alley. Deaf to her protests that she could sit in Flourish and Blotts all day and read, they bought her quite a few more books, saying that they would be unable to purchase them for her during the school year and therefore had to make up for it now.

Hermione leaned on the windowsill and surveyed the front lawns of nearby houses. Although it was late afternoon the summer sun was still very hot. Several doors down a group of bathing suit clad children were running through a sprinkler and laughing raucously. These children were usually responsible for making her summer quite miserable if ever she chose to venture outside the house for a walk around the neighborhood. It didn't matter what they thought anymore. She, Hermione Granger, had magic and they didn't. She wished she could tell them, more accurately she wished she could show them by virtue of one of the jinxes or hexes she had learned about in The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Yet, not only was magical revenge on her muggle tormentors of highly questionable ethics, it was also illegal. There was no sense in getting her wand snapped over immature bullies like them.

Pulled from these thoughts by her mother's shout of "Hermione, dinner!" she retreated from the window, went into the bathroom to wash her hands, and headed downstairs to the dining room.

Throughout dinner Hermione discoursed animatedly about the theory behind inorganic transfiguration while her parents listened attentively. The Grangers were used to having a brilliant daughter who sometimes said things that were thoroughly beyond them, but it was even more difficult than usual to keep up with her flow of information, even though they had both read Hermione's copy of Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling. Still they were incredibly impressed with Hermione's ability to make even the impossible seem understandable for her rather ordinary parents.

After the dishes had been cleared away the Grangers congregated in the living room. For the last week and a half Hermione had treated her parents to a small display of magic every night after dinner. As Jean and Mark took a seat on the couch, Hermione pulled from her pocket a small pink diary with a figure of a princess in a blue ball gown on the cover. It had been a Christmas present from Hermione's Aunt Helen several years ago. However, she had never written in it, preferring journals with a bit more page room for her rather verbose thoughts. The diary was clasped on the side with a dainty golden lock. Hermione withdrew an equally dainty golden key from the pocket of her jeans and handed it to her mother. She then presented the diary to her father and asked him to verify that it was indeed locked. After both Mr. and Mrs. Granger had confirmed the locked state of the diary they returned the book to their daughter.

"Observe, if you please," said Hermione, who was rather enjoying putting on a show like the magicians one saw at carnivals. She retrieved her wand from its place on the coffee table, tapped the lock on the diary, and said clearly and confidently "Alohomora."

The lock clicked open and Mark and Jean applauded briefly, then asked Hermione several questions about the how and why of the spell. The Grangers were of the opinion that magic, much like technology, ought not to be taken for granted and that those who made use of it should have at least a rudimentary understanding of the mechanics behind it. This was a value that they had always sought to impart to their daughter. And she seemed to have picked it up rather well, providing them with all the information they asked for in addition to several other facts that involved more complicated magic than the Grangers were ready to understand.

Four nights later it was the eve of Hermione's departure. Her trunk was packed and she was curled up with a blanket in her favorite armchair re-reading the most fascinating parts of Hogwarts: A History. Part way through a particularly enthralling passage discussing the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!"

Mark Granger poked his head inside the room. "Do you have a minute sweetheart?"

"Of course," said Hermione, placing a bookmark between the pages as her father entered the room followed by her mother.

"We just wanted to give you a little gift before you left for school," said Jean.

"You didn't have to," replied Hermione, "after all; you've already bought me a lot of books."

"Not books, darling," said Mark. "We wanted to give you something pretty, not practical."

"Oh."

Hermione, being the soul of practicality wasn't quite sure how to respond to such a statement. While she was contemplating what her parents might have gotten her that was pretty and not practical, her father withdrew a small velvet box from his pocket.

"Your mother and I bought this in Diagon Alley the last time we were there," said Mark. "It doesn't have any magical properties because we weren't really sure what to get, but we hope you'll like it anyway. He offered the box to Hermione who removed it from his hand and opened it carefully.

Inside was a delicate golden necklace which shone brightly in the dim light of the last of the sun's rays shining through the window. The charm, also made of gold, was a Hogwarts crest, an ornate H surrounded by the Gryffindor lion, the Ravenclaw eagle, the Hufflepuff badger, and the Slytherin Serpent.

"It's… it's beautiful," said Hermione breathlessly. She launched herself from the chair, book and blanket falling to the floor, and hugged her parents fiercely, thanking them profusely for the gift. "But," she continued, "you were wrong, this necklace is magical. Look! You can see the animals in the crest moving." Indeed, upon closer inspection the Grangers could see that the creatures were moving about in their sections of the coat of arms.

Shortly thereafter Hermione went to bed, but sleep did not come easily. She was nervous, excited, anxious, elated, and a whole myriad of other emotions for the coming day. Prominently on her mind were the Hogwarts houses and which one she was likely to be placed in. She had read Hogwarts a History twice and could find no mention of how students were sorted into houses and she really didn't appreciate the fact that she was unable to find out such important information in a book. From what she had read about the qualities of the houses it seemed likely that she would be in Ravenclaw because of her bookishness. Yet, if she was honest with herself, she didn't really want to be in Ravenclaw. Learning and books were an important part of who she was but she would rather be known for her courage, fortitude, and bravery.

Not only that, but the professor that Hermione had met, Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor house. McGonagall seemed to be just the right sort of teacher: strict, no-nonsense, fair, knowledgeable, and concise. The professor also taught Transfiguration, which had become Hermione's favorite subject after reading A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch. When she had accompanied them to Diagon alley, she was able to answer all of Hermione's questions with ease. And of course, she had recommended several books for background reading. That was always a plus.

Hermione turned over, sighed, and tried to get to sleep. She still couldn't believe that Hogwarts A History would say how many staircases there were in the castle (one hundred and forty two), but not how houses were chosen. It was truly exasperating.

Kings Cross Station was crowded at ten o'clock the next morning when the Grangers arrived. Mr. Granger wheeled Hermione's trolley to the area between platforms 9 and 10. As muggles, Mr. and Mrs. Granger were unable to accompany their daughter across the magical barrier to meet the train.

"Be careful," said her mother.

"Don't forget to floss," said her father, trying to lighten the mood, although his eyes looked unusually bright, as though he was trying not to cry. The sight of her father tearing up brought the realization that she was not going to see her parents for nearly four months crashing down upon her heart. She sniffed loudly and then threw herself into her father's arms.

Withdrawing from her father's embrace she was pulled into a tight hug by her mother. "Don't forget to write, dear. We love you very much and we are so proud of you."

"I love you too," Hermione replied and after regaining control over her emotions and removing the tear stains from her face, she turned to contemplate the magical barrier. As they had walked back to the car from Ollivander's Professor McGonagall had given her a train ticket and told her that to get onto the platform she had to walk straight through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. This barrier looked very solid, but in the last month her ideas of what was impossible and what was not had been turned upside down. Taking a deep breath she directed her trolley towards the brick wall. When she was one foot away she decided it would probably be best if she closed her eyes.

Reopening them again several seconds later, Hermione found herself facing a large, scarlet steam engine. A sign over head said Hogwarts Express Eleven O'clock. Smiling broadly, Hermione pulled her trunk towards the train with the aim of finding herself a compartment. Since the train wasn't scheduled to leave for another hour there weren't very many students about and it was relatively easy to find one that was empty. She managed to get her trunk into a luggage rack with the help of an older boy who didn't bother to introduce himself. Pulling out her copy of The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 1, Hermione sat herself comfortably next to a window and began refreshing her memory on all that she had learned, just in case there would be a test or quiz as soon as they arrived. One never knew; that might be the way wizards did things.

An hour passed quickly while Hermione read a chapter on levitation charms. Apparently the trick with these kinds of spells was to put just the right amount of intent and power behind it. If too much magic was behind the spell the object would shoot up like a rocket. However, if there wasn't enough power the object would inexplicably catch fire.

As the train started to move Hermione was joined in her compartment by a small girl with blonde pigtails who introduced herself as Hannah Abbot and a brunette girl named Mandy Brocklehurst. Apparently these girls were already friends and, after introducing themselves and asking if they could sit in her compartment because everywhere else was full, they all but ignored Hermione to continue their conversation about some game named Quidditch and a group called the Weird Sisters that Hermione guessed was a band.

This suited Hermione just fine and she continued to read her book, moving on from levitation charms to read about other types of locomotion spells. Several hours later Hermione was confirming that she had all the difficult precepts of Grunnion's Laws affecting color change charms memorized when Hannah pulled a deck of cards from her trunk and asked Mandy if she would like to play a game of 'exploding snap'.

Hermione soon learned that exploding snap really did involve explosions. Concentration broken, she ventured out into the corridor with a set of her new Hogwarts robes, deciding to use the interruption to change.

Returning to the compartment to put her discarded jeans and sweater back in her trunk she saw that Hannah and Mandy were no longer alone, but had been joined in their game by another girl and a boy. Hermione supposed that she wouldn't be getting any more reading done in that compartment so she ventured out into the corridor again.

Almost immediately she was approached by a slightly chubby, round-faced boy. "Excuse me," he said anxiously, "have you seen a toad? I've lost mine."

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't," replied Hermione. At the sight of the boy's disappointed face she continued, "I'll help you look though. My name is Hermione Granger, by the way, what's yours?"

"Neville Longbottom."

"Well, Neville, we're closer to the back of the train, so how about we start at the very end and work our way towards the front?"

"But, I've already asked the people in the back," protested Neville.

"Well, they might have seen him since you've asked." And without waiting for a reply she turned and marched down towards the last compartment. It was quite nice to have something productive to do.

The first few people she asked told her that they hadn't seen Neville's toad without incident. It wasn't until they had reached the fifth compartment from the end that something interesting happened. Pulling open the compartment door she said the usual "Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."

She barely registered the rather rude reply of "We've already told him we haven't seen it," from a tall red-haired boy when she noticed that the same boy was holding a wand aloft, clearly about to perform magic.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then."

The boy looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment then said "er- alright." He cleared his throat and recited:

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."

Nothing happened.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" asked Hermione. "Well, it's not very good is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me." Realizing that she sounded as though she thought this boy couldn't do magic she continued hurriedly, trying to reassure him. "Nobody in my family's magic at all. It was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard-." She was about to launch into a discussion of what Hogwarts a History had to say about other magical schools, but decided against it. "I've learned all our course books by heart, of course. I just hope it will be enough." Sometime during the last sentence Hermione noticed that she was talking these boys' ears off and hadn't even introduced herself. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"

"I'm Ron Weasley," muttered the red-haired boy whose spell had just failed.

"Harry Potter," answered the other boy in the compartment. He was short and thin with black hair and bright green eyes and wore a pair of very beat up glasses and clothes that were far too large for his small frame.

"Are you really?" exclaimed Hermione, surprised that this disheveled boy could be the famous Harry Potter. "I know all about you of course-." Hermione didn't want this statement to seem odd so she decided to give a little more information. "I got a few extra books for background reading and you're in Modern Magical History, and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."

"Am I?" Harry asked looking stunned.

"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd of found out everything I could if it was me." Hermone couldn't believe that Harry didn't know that he was in so many books. Then it hit her, Harry was her age and bound to be in her year. Maybe he or this Ron fellow knew something about the sorting that she didn't. "Do either one of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad." The boys sitting before her looked thoroughly gobsmacked by this flow of information and Neville standing at her side was shifting from foot to foot with a mixture of anxiety and impatience. Hermione decided that Harry and Ron didn't know anymore about the sorting than she did, by the looks on their faces, they probably knew even less. "Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."

Hermione and Neville went all the way up the train but could find no trace of Trevor the toad. The students were clearly anxious to get off the train and perhaps the sugar from all the candy on the lunch trolley was contributing to the hyperactive behavior of her peers. Looking with mild disdain upon the students running up and down the corridors and passing by her old compartment where there was still a lively game of exploding snap taking place she decided to see if harry Potter and Ron Weasley might allow her to sit in their compartment, unless, of course, they were involved in some other form of immature behavior.

As Hermione approached the boys' compartment she heard a clatter that sounded like a lot of small items falling on the floor. Then someone in the compartment let out a horrible yell of pain. Finally there was a small thud and three boys backed out the door. Two of the boys were very large and thuggish. One of them seemed to be nursing s wound on his index finger. The other was much smaller, pale, blonde, and wore a sneer that said he thought he was better than everyone else.

"What has been going on?" Hermione said as she stepped into the compartment. The floor was littered with sweets and it became obvious that the clatter she had heard was a spilled box of Bertie Botts Evert Flavor Beans. Ron Weasley was picking up a fat grey rat by the tail and, completely ignoring Hermione and her question, turned to Harry.

"I think he's been knocked out," he said, then looking more closely at the rodent amended, "No- I don't believe it- he's gone back to sleep."

Ron sat back down and put his rat back in his pocket. "You've met Malfoy before?" Ron asked Harry.

Hermione thought Malfoy must be one of the boys that had just left and as Harry related the story of his meeting with Draco Malfoy in Madam Malkins she realized that her guess was correct.

After Harry finished his tale Ron thought for a minute then said darkly, "I've heard of his family. They were some of the first to come back to our side after you-know-who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side. Apparently he was done ignoring Hermione because he rounded on her and demanded in a very rude tone, "Can we help you with something?"

Hermione felt rather taken aback by this boy's lack of courtesy and tried to use her best confident voice to disguise her surprise. Unfortunately it came across as rather bossy. "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on. I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there."

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," countered Ron with a scowl. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

It was quite obvious that he simply wanted to get rid of her.

"All right-," said Hermione, and then feeling the need to justify herself, "I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors." Despite the fact that Ron Weasley had been very rude to her and that she was partially inclined to allow him to show up at Hogwarts with a smudge of dirt on his nose, she decided that it would be even meaner for her to let him to make a bad first impression. So she turned around as she was about to leave and said, "and you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?'

Less than ten minutes later the train pulled to a stop and the students poured out off the train into the cold night air. A very large man with a bright lantern was calling over the crowd for the first years. Hermione followed the man and her year mates down a steep and slippery path. The big man leading them said loudly, "yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts I a sec', jus' round this bend here," As she rounded the indicated bend her breath was taken away by the sight of the vast castle atop a cliff on the other side of a great black lake. There were pictures in Hogwarts: A History, of course, but nothing could have prepared her for such grandeur.

At the end of the path, the tall man directed them to a fleet of little boats. Hermione ended up in a boat with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom. Once everyone had found a place in a boat a loud command of "FORWARD!" caused the boats to begin gliding smoothly across the lake. Just as it seemed they were about to sail directly into the cliff, the man that Harry Potter told her was called Hagrid instructed them to put their heads down. The backs of their necks brushed against a curtain of ivy as the boats continued through an opening concealed under the cliff. Eventually they reached a kind of underground harbor. Hermione and the others clambered out of the boats and followed Hagrid up a flight of stairs to a set of large oak doors.

"Everyone here? You there, still got your toad?" asked Hagrid. Neville held up Trevor, who had been found in the boats after the trip across the lake.

Hagrid turned away from the group, raised a gigantic fist, and knocked three times upon the door.