In This Chapter- the trio returns to Hogwarts. Hermione buys some muggle things to keep her occupied. Hermione is a Prefect again, but neither Ron nor Harry are. Hermione suspects Ron gave up the title to spite Percy. Evil Draco is now in the picture, changed for the worst and out for a vengeance.

~*~

Ron, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Fred, and George were all sitting in the Leaky Cauldron eating breakfast. It's been three days since Hermione's Hogwarts friends met Hermione's muggle friends, and in a short hour, the six of them would be on the Hogwarts Express, on their way back to school.

They had all received their letters of course, and, to no ones surprise, Hermione had known she had been made Gryffindor prefect again. Ron, however, hadn't received a badge.

"I don't want you to turn out like Percy." He said.

"I'm not like Percy; I would never be such a git." Hermione said, slightly hurt.

"We know your not." Harry mediated, "You do the right thing, and Percy is just too power hungry."

The twins and Ron nodded; they were affected the most by Percy's leaving, having been closer to his age.

"It hurt a lot." Hermione said. "Percy sided with Fudge about everything, and, although it was never said, he sided with him about pureblood. I might not be a muggle born anymore, but to think that after knowing me, Percy still thought I was second class…. Well it's upsetting, very upsetting."

Fred put an arm around her. "Don't worry about it Mione." He said. "We know you're awesome, no matter what."

Hermione smiled and picked up another piece of Bacon. "Thank you."

Miss independent
Miss self-sufficient
Miss keep your distance
Miss unafraid
Miss out of my way

~

Various trunks and animal cages surrounded the group, and they took up an entire side of the famous pub. Ginny had bought a kitten, which at the moment was making friends with Crookshanks. Harry's owl, Hedwig was silently observing the scene in front of her with an air of dignity, and pig was bouncing around in his cage, hooting like he had one too many butterbeers.

As they all started finishing their breakfast, Hermione stood up and announced "I need to pick up something in London; I will meet you all on the train. She then proceeded to shrink her trunk to the size of a rubix cube, and left Crookshanks with Ginny's cat. "What are you getting?" Harry asked. "Just something that may come in handy this year." Hermione said with a wink. "Please make sure Crookshanks gets onto the train for me. See you all in an hour."

She left a rather startled table. What could Hermione be getting now, that she didn't pick up before?

~*~

The scarlet engine gleamed in a way Harry had never thought an intimate object could. Almost as though the faithful train were alive in some way. "Come on." Harry heard Ron say, and the boys leaned into the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

~*~

Hermione was sitting on the muggle double Decker bus, humming softly to her new CD player. Seeing her old friends had awakened something in Hermione that she left behind in the muggle world- music. Not that the wizarding world was void of music, but she wanted her old favourites, and some new ones as well. Hermione knew she had the money, and changed some of her wizarding money for muggle, so she may purchase some things.

She looked at all the purchases around her feet. She had bought a portable CD player, as well as a small regular one. She already bought an impressive collection of muggle music, like Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera, Cold, N'sync, Mandy Moore, SR-71, and many, many soundtracks from musicals, Grease, West Side Story, and Jhekle and Hyde being a few. Then she bought a TV, and thank God for shrinking spells. It was a small TV, about the size of a computer monitor, but, being a witch, she could charm it to any size, and make it play whatever she wanted, in whatever language she wanted. The last thing she bought, was something she had wanted since she was thirteen- a cell phone. Hermione had the faint feeling that Harry and Ron would be able to find a use for this. Hermione felt almost guilty though, she was going to charm the phone as well, she was going to charm it to be able to call everywhere from anywhere, and, obviously, she wouldn't have to pay a bill. She rather liked her phone; the faceplate was red with gold glitter, which she bought on purpose of course.

Hermione laughed at what she had read before in Hogwarts: a History about how electric things would not run in Hogwarts. She was amazed at how easily that was fixed; a simple spell made it so that all of her things ran simply by magic, no electricity at all. She smiled to herself, and continued to listen to her music.

Soon the bus slowed to a stop, and Hermione could see they had arrived at King's Cross-Station. Hermione caught a flash of bright red hair before she got off the bus, her purse containing her trunk and new cell phone, and a small shopping bag containing her TV, CD players, and new CD collection.

She walked directly into the station and walked to the platform. With one look behind her, and then another in front, she aid "Welcome back, me."

Miss on her own
Miss almost grown

Hermione walked along the narrow isles until she came to a familiar compartment in the back of the train. Sure enough, she heard the familiar sounds of an exploding snap game, and Harry's deep voice- "Hermione should be here by now, the trains going to leave without her."

Hermione took this opportunity to walk in. "Well I daresay." She started, looking at the room full of boys and Ginny, "That if the train were to leave without me, I could find some random car to fly me to Hogwarts." She smiled and set her things down and found her usual seat in the corner.

She started going though her bag, carefully pulling out her new purchases, and Ron asked, "What's that?" He pointed to the small red phone.

"It's called a cell phone." Hermione said simply. "I think you may like it."

"Why's that?" Ron asked. "You could talk to Jess on it." She smiled. Ron's eyes lit up. "Really let me see!"

"Not now Ron, She's probably at school, I'll teach you how to use it tonight, when I know she'll be home from school." Ron nodded eagerly.

"Uh Hermione?" Harry asked. "How do you plan to pay the bill for that? And what about nothing electronic on Hogwarts grounds? How could you possibly afford long distance on that? And does it support Wizarding places?"

Hermione merely smiled, "By magic of course, and besides, I know that for a fact Lauren had a magical phone too." Harry abruptly shut up, and looked at Ron, who brought out the small cube that was a shrunken TV.

"What's this Mione?" He asked, handing it to her.

Hermione took it from him and set it on the floor of the compartment, Harry had already recognized it. "Engorgio!" Hermione muttered, tapping the TV with the tip of her wand. Immediately, the TV doubled, then tripled in size, and Hermione turned it on with a soft 'click'.

The TV turned on to some random cartoon, and Ron and Ginny, stared, transfixed at the pictures in front of them. Harry and Hermione laughed at the expressions on their faces. Hermione then showed Harry her new CD player and CD's. He promptly got thourghly excited over her Cold CD and popped it into the player.

"I have the strangest feeling this thing doesn't have any batteries." He said to Hermione who gave him a guilty smile. "What can I say? I miss my muggle roots." "But your not muggle anymore Mione." Harry pointed out. "Your as pure as Ron, maybe more so." Hermione's smile faded a little, "I know that, and I know my mind knows that, but there's some part of me deep down that's still trying to comprehend it. It's like if someone were to come up to you and pull off your scar and say, "This doesn't belong to you; you're not Harry Potter." And then turn around and hand it to Draco Malfoy."

Harry laughed at the absurdness of her statement, and, although Hermione managed a rather forced looking smile, he could see how deadly serious she was. "I know it's hard, Mione." He said looking into her eyes. "I know it's got to be hard, but remember I know what it's like for your destiny to change too, remember? Six years ago I was on my way to Stonewall High school, a normal boy, dull and hopeless, in a family of no love. I was to wear some of Dudley's old things, dyed grey, for the school uniform. And then Hagrid came. Hagrid came and my life changed forever. I'm a lot like you, a muggle until proven otherwise, but you got to know what parents where like, even if they weren't your parents by blood. You were loved and supported, and even though your not Hermione Granger anymore, your Hermione Prewitt, a good student, pretty girl, a know-it-all, smart and more clever then anyone I will ever know, and you're a fantastic friend. I don't know if I ever told you, but you are. You're a fantastic friend, and I don't think my life would be the same without you. You still have the same brown hair, same gold eyes, same smile, same love for books, and same sharp tong that we all have grown to love."

Hermione looked at her friend, stunned. Her eyes welled up with tears. "Oh Harry! You brute!" And she flung her arms around him. He looked slightly fazed, but patted her back.

"Never forget who you really are, Hermione." He whispered in her ear. She leaned back and smiled at him. "Thanks Harry."

The two friends looked down at the floor, where the Weasley's were gathered around the TV, having completely missed the exchange between Harry and Hermione.

Harry had started to tune into the CD player, and Hermione distinctly heard the song 'Gone Away' blasting from the earphones. Hermione had also just finished programming Lauren's cell phone number into her own, as well as Jessica and Jared's home phone numbers. Last, but not least, her parents' number went into the speed dial. She was just about to call her parents when Padma Patil walked into the compartment with a shy smile on her face.

"Hermione!" She asked, her eyes widening at the site before her. The two Weasley kids were staring transfixed at a black box on the floor and Harry bobbing his head in the corner, and Hermione holding a Red object that looked like a short, flat wand. "Yes Padma?" Hermione asked pleasantly, as if it was all a common sight. "We're having a prefect meeting, first compartment at the front of the train." Hermione nodded and waved, "Ok, I'll be there in a minute." She said, and Padma turned and left. Hermione could see no one would really miss her if she disappeared for a few minutes, so she slipped the phone onto her jeans and threw on her Hogwarts robe. She quickly exited her compartment, and started for the Prefect meeting.

Hermione was walking through the train, making sure to keep her eyes directly in front of her. Back in her first year, when she went looking for Neville Longbottom's toad, she had accidentally walked into a couple who were snogging quite heavily. She still blushed when she recalled what she walked in on.

Hermione sighed quietly as she reached a door with a large golden "P" carved into it. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and walked in.

Miss guarded heart
Miss play it smart

She quickly entered the compartment and took a look around. It was a fairly large space, but was not unlike all the other compartments on the scarlet train. The only difference was that this compartment had a large rug in the middle of the floor, with the Hogwarts crest and motto. She saw she was indeed the last prefect to enter. Each house got to have two prefects a year; based on grades, and school participation, as well as how popular they were with the other teachers. Hermione saw that it was Dean Thomas who replaced Ron, and she slid into a chair beside him.

The prefects for Ravenclaw, Hermione saw were Padma Patil, Parvati's twin sister, and Anthony Goldstein. Justin Finch-Fletchly was one of the prefects for Huffelpuff, and Hannah Abbott was there again as well, but Hermione winced when she saw who was occupying the last two seats. A very sour looking Draco Malfoy, and a very glum looking Pansy Parkinson.

Hermione noticed how well the summer treated the other prefects. Padma, like her sister, had silky dark hair, straight as an arrow. Her eyes were a lovely shade of green that danced in a way that reminded Hermione of Harry's. She had a slender body that Hermione would kill to have. Anthony was a small kid, but very ambitious. Hermione always thought he should be in Slytherin, not because he was mean, but because he was always so determined to achieve his goals.

Justin had indeed spurted up a few inches, just like Ron and Harry. He had a mess of brown hair that accented his deep brown eyes well. He was a burley sort of guy, muscular, but he had a dazzling smile, and Hermione warmed up to him quickly. Hannah Abbot was a country-looking girl with a happy grin and her blond hair in two short French braids.

Hermione glanced at Pansy and was suprised at how, well, sad she looked. She had shoulder length blonde hair and very dark blue eyes. Her nose, which used to resemble that of a pugs, was now looking sort of cute, in a button kind of way. She had her chin in her hand and her elbow resting on her knee. Hermione noticed that she was very skinny, and had the look of someone who lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. Pansy looked stressed out, to say the least, like her life was spinning completely out of her control.

Hermione tried to avoid looking at Draco, but it was hard. He sat in a chair in the far side of the room in the normal guy fashion, legs apart, back against the back of the chair, and he looked nonchalant as always. But more so…Draco Malfoy was hot. Not you're regular boy here. At sixteen a boy is not supposed to have the sex god idealism that Draco was giving off. He had given up on the vampire-slicked back style hair, and now his very fair hair hung down in his face, giving him a seductive look. He had pale skin, but Hermione could definitely see that this was not a boy to tan; his skin was beautiful, flawless and perfect. His pointed face was much more filled in, and his cheekbones were more defined. Hermione could tell that he also, even though was sitting in a chair, had grown several inches this past summer, probably making him a good six inches taller then her.

Hermione looked away from him for a second, but found she couldn't. She looked over at him again and looked at his eyes, which were staring out the window. His eyes took her breath away.

Harry Potter had very special eyes. She shown like emeralds, in cased in mine that had just got its first breath of sunlight. Hermione loved Harry's eyes, and loved to look into them, but Harry Potter had nothing on Draco Malfoy.

Draco's eyes were that of molten steel. They were something so fierce and powerful that the only explanation is that the trait had been defined for generations and generations of pureblooded marriages and offspring. There was something about them though, not necessarily the light of them, but there was no hatred in his eyes, none of the mischievous glitter Hermione had grown to hate all these years…nor was there any love, there was nothing. Deep voids of beauty, but that's all it was, empty beauty. Hermione could barely tear her own eyes away, but thankfully, the head boy and girl chose that moment to come into the compartment.

Hermione knew the Head boy and Girl-Alissa Steel, from Ravenclaw, and Chase Jones, a Slytherin. Alissa was a cute girl, always laughing and having fun in the presence of anyone, from any house. Slytherin or Huffelpuff, Alissa was laughing. She had curly platinum blonde hair and light, light green eyes that were almost clear. She had a splattering of light freckles on her nose and pale, slightly thin lips that there always smiling broadly to show off a mouthful of fantastic teeth. Hermione's parents would have been proud of this girl.

Chase Jones was another good looking man, tall and well built, Hermione recognized him to be the new keeper for the Slytherin Quidditch team. He was towering over Alissa, and had broad shoulders. He had tanned skin and black hair, much like Harry's only it was very well managed. It was slicked up into the popular fashion. He had Hazel eyes that had a certain life to them, as if they held a secret that he enjoyed keeping, but would also equally enjoy telling. Hermione could tell right them he was a complete heartthrob, and he knew it, but there was definitely something she liked about him.

"I assume you all know each other?" Alissa said smiling. "But you may not know us. My name is Alissa Steel, and I am In Ravenclaw, and this is Chase Jones, from Slytherin." Chase grinned at Padma and Hermione.

"When we get to Hogwarts." Chase was saying, "Each prefect is in charge of thinking up a password for his or her respective houses, and is responsible for changing it at least every other month. You do not have to tell the other prefects, but you must clear it with Alissa or myself." He flashed another smile and Alissa jumped in. "That's right, we get an all access pass your house dormitories. You also need to agree on a password for the Prefect common room and bathroom.

Justin and Padma looked mildly surprised, they didn't know they would get their own accommodations, but Hermione did, having been a prefect the year before.

"So, does anyone have any ideas for the Prefect password?" Chase asked the room. They sat there for a minute, thinking, and then Hermione said, "How about 'Draco Dormiens'? Its part of the school motto and it means 'sleeping dragon'." Everybody, well, everybody except for Draco nodded his or her heads in agreement. Padma and Justin were smiling.

"That's a great one, Hermione." Alissa said kindly. Hermione said thanks and tuned into what Chase was saying. "The prefects are in charge of the winter and Halloween dance this year. It is somewhat like the Yule Ball minus the Triwizard Tournament." They all paused for a second; recapping what the last Tri Wizard tournament, then Chase cleared his throat and continued. "You four will be planning the dance, and Ali and I need to plan the seventh year trip Hermione bristled slightly, but kept her composure and nodded. Alissa clapped her hands together and said "All right then! Meeting adorned!"

She looked in the mirror and thought today
What happened to miss no longer afraid?

Alissa and Chase left together, followed closely by Padma then Justin. Hermione was about to leave when the door closed with a loud bang. "Mudblood!" Draco said simply behind her. Hermione got a weird shock of electricity, and fought the urge to disagree. "Mudblood!" Draco said again. "Turn around." Hermione wanted to get out of there, so she complied. "What do you want Malfoy?" She asked.

"I'm not doing any project with you."

"You have to; it comes with the title Malfoy."

"I don't have to listen to you, Granger, your filthy; you can do whatever needs to be done."

"I will not."

"Oh but you will, or I'll make you regret the day you were born, you fat, worthless piece of trash."

Hermione visibly winced, and Draco smirked. "I'm leaving." She said, and, and used the unlocking spell on the door, and left, tears stinging in her eyes.

What happened to Miss Independent?