The morning sun broke the horizon. Hermione opened her eyes and peered above at the overhanging canopy. After stretching out her limbs and sitting up, she quickly clambered out of bed and dressed for the day. As always, her frizzy, unmanageable hair remained as it always does and she merely left it down. She scurried out to the common room hoping to quickly get to the main hall for breakfast when she saw 'Martin' relaxed on one of the couches reading.
"What are you reading?" She asked curiously.
He peered up at her and smiled. "'Blood Meridian' by Cormac McCarthy."
"Is it any good?"
"Very. If you like, you could keep it once I'm finished."
"You mean I could borrow it?"
"Well I thought I would give it to you but if you only want to read it the once then OK. I just figured that because many people like to reread it to better grasp its concept, you might like to keep it."
Hermione bears an all out excited smile. "That would be awesome. Thank you." She turns to leave when suddenly it dawns on her and she turns back around. "I'm about to head down to breakfast to meet Ron and Harry. Would you care to join me?"
"No. I'm not feeling at all hungry. I will probably just stop by in half an hour or so to acquire my schedule. But thank you for offering."
"You're welcome. Alright then, see you in a bit." And she strode out of the room.
The new route to the Great Hall is going to take some getting used to. Nevertheless, she has always been open to changes and she is going to try to make the best out of this one. Getting so lost in her thought, she arrived to breakfast on autopilot before snapping it off and peering around. It was still relatively early and many students have yet to arrive. Harry and Ron are seated together at the end of the Gryffindor table. Everyone else it seems is trying to keep some distance. No matter, she walks on over and takes a seat with them.
"Morning," she says as she sits down. "How have the two of you been faring?"
"Oh we've been just fine," Ron states matter-of-factly. "Haven't we Harry?"
"Hm? Oh! Oh yeah! Just fine."
"Psh! Barely even noticed your absence," Ron scoffs as he says.
"Well fine. I guess you don't want to hear what I've learned then…" Hermione slowly begins to turn away.
"Well I…" Ron shouts before lowering his voice to a more casual level. "I mean, you could sit with us… if you want to that is."
Hermione smiles mischievously before turning back around to face them; smile gone. "Oh, I suppose. I don't really have anything better to do at this particular instance." And she sits down next to Harry with Ron sitting across.
"So what have you learned then? Anything interesting? Where do you guys sleep? Who do you share a dorm with? Have you found anything peculiar about the other people in your house? Where's Martin?" Ron kept asking.
"Ok Ron, if you're going to ask so many questions then at least allow her to answer them, "Harry said. "Go ahead, Hermione."
She smiled gratefully at Harry then began, "Well, for starters our common room is located at the top of the Turris Magnus tower."
"But how, surely the tower isn't high enough to hold an entire Hogwarts student house." Ron said.
"That's what I thought too but apparently it's hidden." She continued. "Apparently the house was meant to stay hidden until the need for it arose. Thus it seems to be layered with illusionment enchantments."
"But why did it need to stay hidden for so long? And why has it only opened sorting now?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. The 'Grey Lady' said the house was formed as a means of protection. I guess all of us in it are supposed to have specific destinies to fulfill. She says none of us were chosen based on specific traits like all of the other houses. I'm still trying to figure it out."
"Well why would the house need so much protection?" Ron asked.
"I don't know!" She loudly whispered. "What I do know is that the creation of his house began with a promise to him made by the other four founders. He must have been very adamant about certain things for everything to be happening the way it is. And as for the reason as to why it only just now opened, I don't know that either."
A couple seconds passed before something finally popped into Harry's mind. "Martin," he stated.
"What about him?" Ron asked now intrigued. Hermione furrowed her eyebrows at where the conversation was heading.
Harry continued, "Everything seemed to change once he arrived at this school."
"No, everything began to change once Voldemort came back," Hermione defended ignoring Ron's visible flinch at the name.
"I'm just saying, I still don't trust the guy."
"Why? Because everyone is evil now?" She shot back.
"No! Because there seems to be a lot he is not telling us. And why is he usually by himself?"
"Perhaps to keep away from people trying to pry into his business!" She almost screeched. Some Gryffindors a few seats over looked at them for a second before returning to their idle chitchat towards each other. Hermione turned towards Ron, about to ask him what he thought on the matter but he seems to be lost in thought at the moment.
"I'm just saying. We shouldn't so quickly dismiss the possibility that he may be involved somehow."
"Stop trying to accuse him. In case you haven't noticed, Ron and I have come to know him quite well. I don't know what it is but everything in me is telling me I can trust him and I am going to stick by my gut. If there is anyone that I wish to look more into it is this Emrys person. We know absolutely nothing about him and somehow I have ended up in his long time hidden Hogwarts house. So back off Martin." Harry looked down at his food and said nothing. "Are you going to help me research or not?" She inquired. Still she was met with silence. "Fine then!"
With that, Hermione left to retrieve her class schedule and left the Great Hall. It wasn't until she was almost to the library that she realized she had forgotten to actually eat breakfast. Doesn't matter now, there are more important things to do. And she continued onwards. She spent an hour in the library until it was time to head back for her needed class supplies and finally headed towards her first one of the new year.