Chapter Three
"And instructions for dancing"
- Peter Gabriel
Hermione said goodbye to her parents and made her way to Platform 9 ¾. As she ran through the wall she was greeted by the sounds of people bustling around, first years and their parents trying to get everything on the train and friends greeting each other. Speaking of friends, Hermione stood on her tippy toes trying to pick out Harry and Ron from the crowd. They would be together since Harry spent the last couple weeks of break with the Weasleys. It was harder to find them this year because there wasn't sea of red hair anymore, due to the fact that it was just Ron and Ginny now. She eventually found them and they said goodbye to Molly and boarded the train together.
Finding a compartment wasn't that hard. The Golden Trio chose one together and Ginny got one with a few of her friends. Ron and Harry hoisted the trunks into the overhanging racks and Hermione let Crookshanks out of his carrier and settled Hedwig and Pig onto a perch. Once everything was put away and the trio settled down they started talking about their summers.
"Well, mine went as best as could be expect." Harry started, "My aunt and uncle pretended that I didn't exist and Dudley and his cronies tried to beat me up a couple times."
"But hey at least you were able to stay at the Burrow for the end of break." Hermione said
"Yeah mate, Mum probably fed you enough food to last you the school year." Ron added.
"So Hermione," Harry said turning to face the bushy haired witch, "Did you decide who you wanted to apprentice under?"
"Yes, I decided that I would study with Madame Pomfrey." She said
"Oh, well you probably see a lot of me then." Harry laughed.
By the time the sweets trolley came around it was about time to change into their school robes. Ron and Harry found another compartment to change in and the trio prepared to return to their second home.
Severus sat at the staff table in the Great Hall and prepared to welcome the students back. As the clock tower chimed eight times the doors Great Hall opened and students 2nd year and up filed in, taking seats at their respective tables. Each table chattered quietly for a few minutes until the doors opened again Minerva strode in with forty-eight first years following behind, some looking frightened, some in awe, some waved to siblings or family members at other tables. They stood in the middle of the Hall as the sorting started. When the last was sorted, Alexander Zarian who was sorted into Slytherin, Severus's stomach had started to growl in hunger. Dumbledore stood and greeted the room, welcoming new students and welcoming back returning students.
"Sixth years that requested an Apprenticeship will find a list of accepted apprentices by each faculty member. If you requested one and were denied please meet with your Head of House and go from there." The headmaster said.
"And now, we eat!" He said spreading his arms as food appeared on all the tables. Severus had a bowl of beef stew in front of him, with fresh bread and a glass of red wine. He watched the room as he ate, watched his Slytherins welcome the first years and the Ravenclaws tell their knew house mates about the riddles they have to answer to enter the dorms, the Hufflepuffs spoke to their first years as if they had known them forever, and the Gryffindors spoke to theirs about quidditch.
When everyone had eaten their fill they were dismissed to their houses and the faculty left one by one to either return to their quarters or to their common rooms to welcome their houses. Severus headed down to the dungeons went over all the rules with his new students and reminded the returning ones.
"Remember, House pride is extremely important. If I find any of you disgracing the Slytherin name you will find yourself in detention for the entire year and you'll put the House in the negatives with points. I have made myself clear. I expect all students to be in their dorms no later than eleven. Goodnight." He said with a flourish of his cloak as he returned to his quarters. He downed a vial of Dreamless Sleep and fell into the welcomed darkness of sleep.
A/N Yay! Longest chapter yet! If you can't tell I'm horrible with dialogue. It's my worst point. I'm not sure how I'm going to approach the whole death eatermeetings. I think I'll just mention that they happened and maybe a brief summary of what happened.